Maryland seafood company employed illegal immigrants, linked to visa fraud: reports

A Maryland seafood company and its owner entered guilty pleas Wednesday after being accused of employing at least 89 illegal immigrants and engaging in visa fraud, according to reports.

Some of the employees had no legal status at all in the U.S., including some who were involved in deportation proceedings, the Washington Times reported.

The company was identified as Capt. Phip’s Seafood Inc., owned by Phillip "Jamie" Harrington III, 50, of Dorchester County, the Bay to Bay News of Dorchester County reported.

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"Over a five-year period, Capt. Phip’s Seafood and its owners engaged in a calculated pattern of visa fraud that not only deceived the government but also resulted in lower wages to their employees," Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan Lenzer of the District of Maryland said in a statement, according to the news outlet.

"Rather than play by the rules that other businesses follow, the defendants manipulated the H-2B visa program for the sole purpose of increasing their profits at the expense of their employees and the fair market."

"Rather than play by the rules that other businesses follow, the defendants manipulated the H-2B visa program for the sole purpose of increasing their profits at the expense of their employees and the fair market."

- Jonathan Lenzer, acting U.S. attorney, District of Maryland

Court documents were unclear about why an officer from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) first visited the company in 2017, but the inspection came amid a crackdown by the Trump administration on employers that were suspected of abusing the visa system, the Times reported.

Under the Biden administration, a previous cap of 66,000 H-2B visas has been raised by 22,000, the report said.

Jamie Harrington took over the business in March 2019 following the death of his father, Phillip Harrington Jr., in February 2018, the Bay to Bay News reported.

The company produces and distributes ice and processes seafood items, the report said. It participated in the H-2B visa program for more than 10 years as it hired immigrant workers to fill seasonal positions, the news outlet reported.

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But according to authorities, the company submitted false and inaccurate job descriptions to the H-2B program in order to pay lower wages to the temporary workers – about $6 less per hour, according to the Times. The jobs involved ice production, oyster processing and truck driving, the report said. 

Jamie Harrington, as part of his plea deal, admitted that employees’ wages would have been higher had the company provided truthful information on its visa applications, the Bay to Bay News reported.

Harrington also admitted that some workers were assigned to jobs at other companies he owned, in violation of the law, The Times reported.