U.S. employers told to lay off foreign workers who are about to lose temporary protected status
The Department of Homeland Security is asking U.S. employers to lay off all foreign workers who have now lost their “temporary protected status.” The directive comes as the Supreme Court recently upheld the Donald Trump administration’s authority to terminate TPS for Haiti and Syria. Some companies have already laid off such employees, but others are waiting as it will take about 30 days for the Supreme Court ruling to take effect.But the list of countries about to lose TPS is long.Work permits for Haitians with Temporary Protected Status are set to expire on July 24, according to notifications sent by USCIS to each affected country. Such permits will also expire on July 17 for people arriving from Ethiopia, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.The other five countries have a combined total of about 20,000 TPS holders. USCIS has been extending work authorizations on a short-term basis. The agency previously set the deadline for July 1, then last week extended it to July 10 for all countries. On Friday, the same situation occurred again. The Department of Homeland Security on Friday temporarily extended work permits for Haitians and other immigrants covered by TPS just hours before the permits expired, but only temporarily as employers across industries continue to lay off workers whose legal status has lapsed or is expected to be terminated.The government’s notice to employers cited the Supreme Court ruling, saying the federal court was expected to be “consistent” with the High Court’s ruling in the government’s favour.The constant changes in dates have caused confusion for businesses, with many laying off employees even before the extension.
What is TPS?
The U.S. government has long provided this protection to people from countries affected by natural disasters or wars. This program has been implemented since 1990. Donald Trump’s administration put a stop to the plan and withdrew the status of these countries one by one, arguing that conditions in those countries had improved and their citizens should now return home.
