Dive Brief:
- Employers should use E-Verify to regularly generate status change reports that identify whether an employee’s Employment Authorization Document has been revoked, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Monday.
- On June 20, DHS made available information about workers whose documents were revoked between April 9 and June 13, the agency said. DHS said it will no longer send case alerts; employers must generate a status change report on the E-Verify website instead.
- If a worker’s authorization document has been revoked, employers must immediately reverify each employee with Form I-9, Supplement B, DHS said.
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Dive Insight:
DHS announced this month that it is revoking certain employment authorization documents for workers whose parole has been terminated, including for both individuals and larger groups.
Particularly affected are more than half a million workers from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, who received a temporary stay through a humanitarian parole program opened by the Biden administration in 2023. The Trump administration decided to terminate the program in March and thereby immediately revoke work authorization for individuals who had entered the country as part of it.
The order was challenged by a group of noncitizens in Massachusetts federal court and was barred by a district court judge, but the U.S. Supreme Court allowed DHS to move forward on May 30 after the Trump administration filed an emergency request to lift the stay.
Employers who don’t use E-Verify may need to use a different method to determine whether their employees’ authorization status has been affected. In a recent analysis, Chris Thomas, partner at law firm Holland & Hart, recommended employers review employment records to determine which employees may have been affected and meet with those employees to ask if they’ve received revocation notices.
Employees who have received such notices but have a different form of employment authorization should update their Form I-9, while employers complete Supplement B. Those who have received notices but lack an alternative form of authorization must be terminated, the firm said.
While employment termination could be “construed as overly cautious,” Thomas wrote, “DHS would almost certainly take the position that employers are on notice (actually or constructively) about the loss of status of these parolee employees. Failure to take affirmative steps to address such a situation could lead to significant legal consequences.”