Louisiana crawfish producers and processors say the state’s spring peak season has been undercut by a shortage of foreign seasonal workers, with industry leaders pointing to federal delays in authorizing guest workers for the labor-intensive work of shelling and freezing. In Crowley and other areas deep in Louisiana’s bayous, operators described plans that depend on H-2B visa workers arriving on schedule, only to say this year’s staffing gaps arrived after the season had already started.
Alan Lawson, who runs a crawfish production facility in the rural town of Crowley, said he could not get the workers his business depends on. “People have built businesses around these workers and this year we can’t get them,” Lawson said. He added that “This industry would not exist without it because the American people don’t want to do the jobs we’re offering.”
For large-scale crawfish producers, the guest workers are typically hired to shell and freeze freshwater crawfish that are caught from Louisiana’s swampy rice fields. The workers come on H-2B visas for nonfarming jobs and are allowed to stay in the U.S. for less than a year after businesses first offer the jobs to Americans, according to the process described by the Associated Press.
At the federal level, the Department of Homeland Security is required to release 66,000 H-2B visas each year and can release nearly double that amount, but industry officials said the process this year played out later than usual. A supplemental-visa process that normally supports seasonal industries began after Louisiana’s crawfish season had already begun, operators said.
The AP reported that DHS did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The Department of Labor said it respects the crawfish industry and the importance to the U.S. economy, adding that the agency “has been actively engaging with industry stakeholders to help address workforce needs and identify workable solutions.”
Even if guest workers arrive later in the season, Louisiana operators said the damage could already be done because crawfish processing is time-sensitive. Restaurant owners and processors also warned that missing labor could affect crawfish prices for consumers who are already dealing with affordability pressures.
Some Louisiana officials and industry representatives tied the staffing shortage to broader immigration enforcement changes, arguing that the federal government has been less supportive of legal pathways for seasonal workers. Andy Brown, public policy coordinator for the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation, said, “The demand is there but the supply is not,” adding that “These businesses want to follow the law. They want to go through the legal parameters to meet their labor needs.”
U.S. businesses’ reliance on seasonal foreign labor predates the Trump administration, but the AP described how the labor market has been affected by a wider clampdown on legal immigration. The Associated Press also reported that businesses are seeking tens of thousands more guest workers than the federal government has made available, citing Department of Labor data.
In addition to processing delays, some Louisiana officials said applications were rejected for timing reasons. Louisiana officials said the federal government rejected many crawfish producers’ applications because they listed start dates before January, and Lawson said he was told his company was not eligible based on an application timeline, according to a February rejection notice he showed to the AP.
Mike Strain, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry commissioner, said at least 15 of the state’s 20 major crawfish processing plants have no guest workers this year. He said it was “unacceptable” that the Trump administration’s approach had left the industry without labor support as the season ramped up.
Processors said they tried to recruit locally for peeling jobs paying around $13 an hour, but only a small number of Americans took seasonal gigs, according to the AP. David Savoy, a crawfish processor, said “I can’t put the crawfish somewhere else. They have to be peeled at this time,” adding that he had tried to recruit locals while dealing with the physical toll of standing and peeling for long hours.
Immigration law experts cited by the AP said the crawfish labor shortage reflects an attitude toward legal immigration that makes it harder for employers to rely on guest-worker systems. Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute, said, “There’s much less of a push to facilitate legal immigration,” and that it “It’s not a high priority to make sure that the immigration system is moving smoothly.”
Restaurant owners and crawfish lovers could also feel the impact beyond the processing plants. Chandra Chifici, who owns the New Orleans seafood restaurant Deanie’s, said she was worried she would not be able to stockpile enough Louisiana crawfish to get through the monthslong offseason, and she said some companies might not be able to keep certain dishes on restaurant menus during peak tourism.