E-Verify Users Can Now View Immigrant Work Permit Terminations

Employers enrolled in E-Verify can begin using the program to identify immigrant workers whose work permit was terminated.

Businesses should generate a status change report through the federal employment verification system to view work permit revocations, the Department of Homeland Security said in an online update.

Industries across the country have navigated weeks of uncertainty after the US Supreme Court allowed DHS to move ahead with termination of removal protections and employment authorization for several hundred thousand immigrants covered by Temporary Protected Status and parole programs.

Knowingly employing unauthorized workers can lead to civil penalties and criminal prosecution. But companies can violate anti-discrimination provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act by auditing employment authorization based on the national origin of workers.

The agency this month began notifying immigrants admitted through the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela parole process—although not employers—that their benefits were terminated and that they should depart the country. More than half of parolees admitted through CHNV have pending claims for asylum, green cards, or TPS, according to federal data released in litigation over the program.

Employees may have physical work permit cards that appear valid even though their employment authorization was revoked, DHS said. Businesses must check the eligibility of workers who appear in a status change report through E-Verify to determine if they have another form of work authorization. Otherwise, those employees will have to be terminated.