US DHS orders employers to prepare layoffs of TPS workers

The Department of Homeland Security has directed U.S. employers to prepare to lay off hundreds of thousands of foreign workers who will lose their Temporary Protected Status, following a short-term extension of their work permits that was announced on Friday, July 10. The extension, granted just hours before the permits were set to expire, pushes the new expiration date for Haitian TPS holders to July 24, while permits for individuals from Ethiopia, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen will now expire on July 17.

This latest administrative action follows a Supreme Court ruling last month that upheld the Trump administration's authority to terminate TPS designations for Haiti and Syria. The court's decision is expected to take full effect in approximately 30 days. The TPS program, established in 1990, allows immigrants already in the United States to live and work legally if their home countries are deemed unsafe due to natural disasters, armed conflict, or other extraordinary conditions.

The repeated, short-term extensions have created significant confusion for businesses. Some employers had already begun terminating workers in anticipation of the original July 10...