The Department of Homeland Security has asked US employers to fire all foreign workers who are now losing their ‘Temporary Protected Status’. The directive comes after the Supreme Court recently upheld the Donald Trump administration’s authority to end TPS for Haiti and Syria. Some companies have fired such employees, but some were waiting because the Supreme Court decision would not take effect for about 30 days.But the list of countries that are on track to lose TPS is long.The work permits of Haitians with Temporary Protected Status will expire on July 24. Such permits for people from Ethiopia, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen will also expire on July 17, according to notices issued by USCIS for each affected country.The five other countries collectively have about 20,000 TPS holders. USCIS was expanding work authority in small increments. The agency had previously set the expiration date as July 1 and then last week extended it to July 10 for all countries. The same thing happened again on Friday. DHS on Friday temporarily extended work authorization for Haitians and other immigrants covered by TPS, hours before the permits were set to expire, but it is only temporary and comes as employers across industries continue to fire workers whose legal status has expired or is expected to expire.The government notice sent to employers cites the Supreme Court decision, adding that federal courts are expected to “align” with the High Court ruling in favor of the administration.The constant changes in dates caused confusion among businesses and many laid off employees before the extension could be extended.
What is TPS?
The US government has been providing this protection to the people of countries affected by natural disasters or war. This program has been in effect since 1990. The Donald Trump administration put a halt to this and withdrew the status from countries one by one, saying that the situation in those countries had improved and citizens should now return home.