US: DHS Tells Employers To Dismiss Thousands of Immigrant Workers
- The Homeland Security Department directed US employers to terminate hundreds of thousands of foreign workers whose Temporary Protected Status work permits are set to expire in mid-to-late July
- Work authorisation for Haitians will lapse on July 24, while permits for workers from Ethiopia, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen
- The directive follows a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling last month that upheld the Trump administration's authority to end TPS protections
The United States Department of Homeland Security has instructed employers across the country to prepare to let go of hundreds of thousands of workers who hold Temporary Protected Status.
This comes as work permits for multiple nationalities are set to expire within weeks.
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According to The New York Times, notices issued by US Citizenship and Immigration Services specify that work authorisation for Haitians with TPS will lapse on July 24, while permits for workers from Ethiopia, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen will expire on July 17.
Supreme Court ruling clears the way
The directive follows a Supreme Court ruling last month that, in a 6-3 decision split along ideological lines, upheld the Trump administration's authority to terminate TPS protections for Haitians and Syrians.
Legal challenges had previously stalled similar terminations for the other five countries, but the ruling is expected to set a precedent that lower courts will follow. Once terminations take effect, affected individuals become vulnerable to deportation.
More than 330,000 Haitians and 6,100 Syrians have been living in the United States under the programme, which the government grants when conditions in a country, such as armed conflict or natural disaster, make it unsafe for citizens to return.
The five remaining countries collectively account for approximately 20,000 additional TPS holders, according to the National Immigration Forum.
Confusion over shifting permit deadlines
The process has been complicated by a series of last-minute extensions from USCIS. The agency had initially set an expiry date of July 1, then pushed it to July 10, before extending it again on the same Friday that employers received the termination guidance.
The shifting deadlines created significant uncertainty among businesses, with some dismissing workers before they were notified of each new extension, while others kept staff on payroll in anticipation of a short delay following the court ruling.
Jacob Monty, legal counsel for the American Business Immigration Coalition, said many employers had acted out of fear of penalties for retaining workers deemed ineligible to work. "We still have rule of law, and TPS has still not been terminated," he said.
He added that clearer communication from USCIS could have prevented the early dismissals: "Many employers were uncertain, leading them to unnecessarily terminate the workers early."
The impact is expected to be felt across several industries. A significant number of Haitian TPS holders work in healthcare and elder care, while thousands more are employed in construction, manufacturing and transportation.
Immigrant advocates have argued that conditions in many of the affected countries remain deeply unsafe, pointing to ongoing armed conflict in South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen, as well as the collapse of infrastructure worsened by cuts to international aid.
Lawyers representing Haitian and Syrian TPS holders had argued in court that the terminations were politically motivated and rooted in racial bias, claims the Supreme Court majority rejected.
The government is also widely expected to allow TPS protections for El Salvador, which cover approximately 200,000 people, to lapse in early September.
US targets foreigners travelling to give birth
Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that the US had announced the revocation of hundreds of visas from West Africa and other regions following the latest discovery.
The Department of State cautioned against the abuse of visitor visas by people travelling to America for birth tourism purposes.
This comes after a US embassy in West Africa discovered that a group was using fake documents and the help of middlemen to travel to the US to give birth.
Source: YEN.com.gh
