The Trump administration this year stripped over 600,000 Venezuelans living in the United States of their Temporary Protected Status designations, leaving them undocumented, without work authorizations and at risk of deportation.
Over 300,000 Haitians are also set to lose the humanitarian designation by February 2026.
The abrupt revocation of legal status and work permits held by hundreds of thousands of workers has disrupted small and large business across Florida. They are now scrambling to learn if their employees are still legally able to work, and whether they face penalties for keeping them at their jobs.
The Palm Beach Post spoke to Miami-based attorney Scott Bettridge, the chair of the law firm Cozen O’Connor’s immigration practice and represents both corporate and individual clients. He answered common questions that business owners and managers are asking about lapses in employee TPS.
Here are some of his replies:
When an employee’s Temporary Protected Status lapses, their work authorization also expires.
Businesses can’t continue to employ someone without a valid work authorization. That includes TPS holders whose work permits expired this year after the Trump administration revoked the humanitarian designation for people from nine countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti and Venezuela.
If the employee who lost TPS has another underlying immigration case or holds another legal employment active work permit, they can continue to remain employed.
Local immigration attorneys advise businesses to assess the legal standing of each employee who lost TPS on a case-by-case basis with legal counsel.
Yes, employers are responsible for reviewing the statuses and expiration dates of all their staff’s work permits.
The termination of TPS for a groups of people from certain countries is done en masse, meaning groups of hundreds of thousands of immigrants lose their legal status and work authorizations on a designated date.
Florida businesses could face potential fines and penalties for transporting undocumented workers.
Under Florida law, transporting undocumented immigrants is considered a third-degree felony, with up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. However, parts of the law have been challenged and blocked by a state judge, and it is still unclear how it would be enforced on businesses.
Florida enacted S.B. 1718 mandating the use of E-Verify for companies with 25 employees or more and enacting penalties for employers that hire undocumented workers. Businesses with over 25 employees could potentially face fines under the S.B. 1718 if they continue to employ workers without legal work authorizations, including those who up until recently lost TPS.
Local immigration attorneys say Florida has not reported an uptick either in enforcement or fines on companies for violations under S.B.1718 since Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law in 2023.
Bettridge said most large companies already employed E-Verify and the law has mostly affected hiring at small businesses that need day laborers and low-skill workers and had to ensure they were also in compliance.
The Trump administration stripped 600,000 Venezuelans living in the United States of TPS protections this year.
Over half of them live in Florida, primarily in South Florida, and the TPS termination accounts for 250,000 Venezuelan nationals who were granted TPS in 2021 and another 350,000 who received it in 2023.
The Venezuelan TPS holders who still have valid work authorizations are a select group from the 2021 designation that have legal status until Oct. 2, 2026. That includes those who registered under the January 2025 extension notice and received extended Employment Authorization Documents (EAD).
Another small group of Venezuelans under the 2023 TPS designation that received extended EADs by Feb. 5, 2025, will also retain their statuses until October 2, 2026.
Over 350,000 Haitians living in the United States are set to lose TPS protections next year.
Shortly after taking office, Trump announced his administration would end TPS for Haiti, but a federal judge blocked that order in July. The Department of Homeland Security on Nov. 26 posted a notice with the termination of the TPS designation for Haiti by Feb. 3, 2026.
The end of the humanitarian protections will leave over 350,000 Haitians without legal status and work permits and at risk of deportation.
No. Even though there is an ongoing federal case testing the legality of the Trump administration’s actions to terminate early TPS designations for Venezuela, an order by the U.S. Supreme Court allowed DHS to strip humanitarian protections from the Venezuelan nation while that case plays out federal court.
Even though the courts could ultimately restore TPS protections for Venezuelans, in the meantime Venezuelans TPS holders are left undocumented, without work permits and at risk of deportation.
A similar federal lawsuit challenging the revocation of TPS for Haiti is on hold after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a lower court’s order that would have prevented the termination from going into effect until the case is resolved.
TPS holders and businesses with employees who lost or are set to lose TPS have limited legal options to obtain new work authorizations and retain their staffs.
Those who lost TPS saw their legal statuses reverted to the previous immigration status they held before TPS, including expired travel, work and education visas.
Businesses can offer their employees legal counsel to assess their alternatives such as family-based immigration petitions, asylum and employment-based visas. However, these are lengthy and expensive legal processes that are already historically backed up in court across the country.
And for those who are starting a new immigration petition, they will be without legal status and work authorization for at least 150 days of their application’s processing time.
Bettridge said his law firm has been overwhelmed by calls from businesses seeking legal advice for their employees. He added some of the companies that already lost employees are staying in contact with them as they seek work authorizations because they can’t find more workers to replace them.
The termination of TPS protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians will lead to labor shortages in Florida and have lasting effects on the state’s economy, Bettridge said.
Bettridge said the abrupt loss of hundreds of thousands of workers who were stripped of TPS has already led to staffing shortages at both small and large businesses in Florida — especially in South Florida where TPS holders are employed in industries such as health care, hospitality, education and construction.
Without available workers, companies lose their abilities to fulfill contracts and in turn have to pay higher wages to attract new hires and then invest in their training. Businesses usually pass down those costs to their customers, Bettridge said.
“(Companies) may be losing business as they originally thought it’s going to cost more and they’re going to have to pass on those costs,” Bettridge said. “There’s a large number of TPS holders who are employed in essential industries that have lost their jobs and are creating significant labor gaps.”
Bettridge said the revocation of TPS for Venezuelans and Haitians will also lead to a massive loss of tax revenue for Florida and a reduction in consumer spending.
“Without legal status, the individuals that previously held TPS now don’t have a paycheck and they’re like us. They are not going to spend money, and that further damages economic growth in South Florida,” Bettridge said. “It’s like a chain reaction.”
Valentina Palm covers immigration and the western communities of Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
Questions and answers for business owners as their employees lose TPS – The Palm Beach Post
