🔒Trump administration’s undocumented workers crackdown raises concerns for some CT employers

Dana Bucin describes some of her clients as “panicking.”

“The calls that have gotten to me are overwhelmingly from construction, carpentry, landscaping, restaurant and hospitality, some agricultural,” said Bucin, a partner in the immigration practice group of law firm Harris Beach Murtha. “These are the fields where we have a lot of folks in either temporary statuses or undocumented.”

What’s concerning those businesses is the Trump administration’s overwhelming early focus on deporting undocumented workers. Bucin just spoke with a construction business that wants to retain three Ukrainian employees who are currently in the country on temporary protected status, or TPS.

“They bring a lot of skills from Ukraine in that field of construction and carpentry,” she said. “Employers are reaching out, out of concern for their employees who they consider valuable and who have a skill set they desire.”

TPS applies to an estimated 1 million people in the U.S. from a wide range of countries — from Afghanistan to Yemen. The status is granted by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to people who are unable to return home safely because of wars, natural disasters, epidemics or other threats to safety in their country of origin.

One of President Donald Trump’s first-day executive orders directed a review of TPS designations made under the Biden administration, meaning this protection could be removed for many people, leaving them vulnerable to deportation.

And that’s not the only major change that may be on the way. Many other employees are protected under DACA, or deferred action for childhood arrivals.

“I believe there’s a high risk that (the DACA program) will go away,” Bucin said. “So, you need a status like an H-1B in order to stay in this country.”

No quick fix

H-1B visas apply to skilled workers, usually in white-collar jobs, and are awarded via a lottery system. The window to enter this year’s lottery is coming up in March, so Bucin says now is a good time for employers to get their paperwork in order for workers they’d like to sponsor for a visa.

In fiscal year 2024, 633 employers in Connecticut applied for H-1B visas on behalf of their workers, according to the federal U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency.

A total of 2,957 beneficiaries were approved for H-1B visas in the state last fiscal year. Connecticut companies with the most approved H-1B visa beneficiaries included Yale University (262), Quest Global Services-NA Inc. (88), Cyient Inc. (68), Synchrony Bank (66) and UConn (60).

But many undocumented or vulnerable employees are in the skilled trades or unskilled work, neither of which are eligible for the visa system. In that case, Bucin says, she’s recommending applying for an employer-sponsored green card.

“Permanent residence really is the ultimate protection that everybody’s after — it’s like the Holy Grail of immigration law,” she said. “And this is what we’ve been very busy lately doing.”

It’s no quick fix. Bucin says processing times were already getting longer under the Biden administration, and it can now take between two and three years to obtain a green card.

But, by sponsoring a worker through the process, she believes an employer can give a signal to the authorities.

“Overwhelmingly, employers are here to tell you that they need more, not less, labor. This is not the proper time to round up folks and deport them, especially folks gainfully employed already in our economy,” she said. “The hope is that ICE will not spend taxpayers’ money to go after people who are wanted here permanently.”

Connecticut, like many states, has been dealing with a labor shortage since the 2020 pandemic. The state currently has about 75,000 job openings, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Preparedness plan

Retaining workers is not the only thing on employers’ minds as the Trump administration ramps up its mass deportation program. There’s also the concern that ICE agents may turn up on their doorstep.

“We have a lot of clients — a lot of school clients, a lot of healthcare clients, who are particularly nervous about what all of this looks like in a new Trump era,” said immigration employment attorney Nina Pelc-Faszcza, of law firm Shipman & Goodwin.

Schools and medical facilities in particular are worried because another executive order explicitly reversed a long-customary practice that used to restrain ICE activity in these sensitive locations, along with houses of worship.

“My biggest priority is helping employers toe the line between their instinct to protect employees or students or patients, versus understanding the risk of what happens when you push the boundaries too far,” Pelc-Faszcza said.

She’s already drawn up guidance for her clients, making sure employers are aware of their rights. ICE agents are allowed in any public area of a business, but need either the business’s permission or a judicial warrant, signed by a judge, before they can go into non-public areas, for instance, a restaurant kitchen.

“What’s more likely to happen in these scenarios is ICE showing up with a removal warrant,” she said. “They have an order of removal for someone who either works at that place of employment, or happens to be there.”

This kind of administrative warrant — one that’s not signed by a judge — does not empower them to search anywhere in a place of business. The only circumstance in which ICE can make an exception is when there’s a threat to national security or public safety.

Pelc-Faszcza recommends businesses and organizations get ready now with a preparedness plan, along with either training front-desk staff or designating one person who will handle any interaction with ICE, ensuring agents show identification and asking to see any kind of warrant that they have.

“Remain calm and be cooperative,” she said. “It’s really important to never provide false information to a law enforcement officer. Don’t hide anyone. It can be a federal crime to obstruct lawful ICE activity.”

However, she says, employers are within their rights to document a visit with photos or video, take notes, and accompany officers on any search of the premises. They also have the right to remain silent.

Bucin, the Harris Beach Murtha attorney, said businesses should be proactive, for instance, by conducting an audit of the I-9 paperwork they hold on all employees, which records their eligibility to work in the U.S.

“If you’re doing it wrong, even for the other U.S. employees, you could be fined,” she said. “Depending on the level of violations, especially if it’s knowingly employing unauthorized workers, you could even go to jail as one of the officers of that business. So, it’s serious sanctions.”

And she sends the same preparedness message to workers who are currently undocumented. She says now is the time to explore with an attorney if they have a way to regularize their status.

“Just because you ended up in undocumented status doesn’t mean you have to be forever in that status,” she said. “When ICE is at your door, that’s too late.”