The Department of Homeland Security will grant an additional 25,000 permits, allowing Maryland’s crab-picking plants to hire extra immigrant workers. The seasonal workers travel to Maryland’s Eastern Shore each year to pick crab meat under a special visa program. The program has a cap of about 66,000, and most Maryland picking plants were unable to obtain visas this year. The Department of Homeland Security says it will grant the additional visas so crab plants can bring workers to Maryland in time for the fall season. The announcement comes as welcome news to the Maryland crab industry, which has been dealing with a severe labor shortage.