Hundreds of Mexican farm workers stranded at US border after massive computer glitch
Hundreds of Mexican farm workers stranded at US border after massive computer glitch
Payton Guion
New York
Tuesday 23 June 2015
A government computer glitch has stranded hundreds of Mexican farm workers at the US-Mexico border for two weeks, as officials are unable to issue work visas.
The glitch has prevented the workers from reaching the Washington state cherry farms that sponsored their visas, meaning cherry crops have been spoiling, Reuters reported. Many farms have reported losing their entire cherry crop.
A State Department database crashed on 9 June and since then US Customs and Border Protection has been able to process only about half of the requested work visas.
About 1,250 workers who had previously been granted the H-2A visas issued for temporary farm employment have been granted them again, but some 1,500 first-time applicants been stranded by the computer glitch.
More:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hundreds-of-mexican-farm-workers-stranded-at-us-border-after-massive-computer-glitch-10340661.html
LBN:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141125260