Juan Antonio harvests crawfish traps in a crawfish pond in Crowley, La., Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Juan Antonio displays a crawfish harvested in Crowley, La., Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Juan Antonio harvests crawfish traps in a crawfish pond in Crowley, La., Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Juan Antonio harvests crawfish traps in a crawfish pond in Crowley, La., Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Juan Antonio harvests crawfish traps in a crawfish pond in Crowley, La., Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Colin Lawson walks between his family's crawfish ponds in Crowley, La., Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Juan Antonio harvests crawfish traps in a crawfish pond in Crowley, La., Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Juan Antonio harvests crawfish traps in a crawfish pond in Crowley, La., Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Alan Lawson enters the Bocage Crawfish processing facility in Crowley, La., Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
A worker peels crawfish in the Bocage Crawfish processing facility in Crowley, La., Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Workers walk between buildings at the Bocage Crawfish processing facility in Crowley, La., Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Alan Lawson walks through a room that normally has 110 workers in the Bocage Crawfish processing facility in Crowley, La., Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
A crawfish boat harvests a crawfish pond in Crowley, La., Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephen Smith)
Audio By Carbonatix
5:57 AM on Thursday, March 26
By GERALD HERBERT and STEPHEN SMITH
CROWLEY, La. (AP) — Spring is peak crawfish season in Louisiana, an industry worth about $300 million.
However, the industry is struggling this year due to a shortage of seasonal foreign workers, and some are blaming President Donald Trump’s administration for what they say has been a failure to authorize enough guest workers in time.
Large-scale crawfish producers use guest workers, many from Mexico and Central America, to shell and freeze the freshwater catch that is often pulled from swampy rice fields — physically demanding tasks that American workers are generally unwilling to do.
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This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
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