If they're on foreign-flagged vessels, then US laws don't apply. That's kinda the whole point of foreign-flagged vessels. (As I understand it, crew can't go ash

If they're on foreign-flagged vessels, then US laws don't apply. That's kinda the whole point of foreign-flagged vessels. (As I understand it, crew can't go ashore without going through US immigration, but the ship itself is not - for legal purposes - under US jurisdiction.) I'd be on board (heh) for changing that - particularly for ships going up and down the Mississippi - but I don't know how you'd do it without changing hundreds of years of legal precedents, which I assume would be a hard lift. There may be elements of the Mississippi River Boat job which make using foreign crews completely impractical - like, maybe it can't be done without at least some of them going ashore? I'm pretty sure there aren't immigration agents at every river port!) - so maybe it's not a concern. I don't know anywhere near enough about the subject to make confident assertions about that. > 75% of crews to be American citizens I didn't know that, either! Thanks.