On his first day in office, President Donald Trump issued more than 45 Executive Orders, many of which contain directives related to immigration. The immigration team at Nilan Johnson Lewis will be monitoring updates related to these executive orders and will provide information and support to employers who have questions about how these orders will impact their employees and business operations.
These executive orders arrive at a time when legislation that is making its way through Congress could also lead to significant consequences for foreign workers entering the United States lawfully.
The Laken Riley Bill, which was recently passed in the Senate and is headed to the House (which already approved a previous version of the Bill earlier this month) seems innocuous on its face. The bill would require that “mandatory detention” be applied to undocumented people charged with, arrested for, or convicted of any theft-related offence, without providing an opportunity to even request release on a bond. Further, the bill also grants states standing to sue the federal government over a number of immigration-related actions, which could result in the prevention of the issuance of any type of visa (including H-1B and other work visas) to citizens of countries that refuse to accept the return of their nationals who have been deported from the United States. Two such countries would include India and China – two countries from which many H-1B nonimmigrants receive visas to enter the United States.
In addition to the Laken Riley Bill, there are a number of recently signed Executive Orders that could significantly impact business immigration in a number of ways, including, but are not limited to, the following:
- Reviewing U.S. involvement in trade agreements, such as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), that could impact issuance and continued eligibility for TN visas for Canadian and Mexican citizens; E-1 (treaty trader) and E-2 (treaty investor) visas for qualifying businesses in countries with which the United States has a trade agreement; H-1B1 (specialty occupation) visas for citizens of Singapore and Chile; and E-3 (specialty occupation) visas for citizens of Australia. This could also impact the submission of L-1 petitions at the United States-Canada border for Canadian citizens;
- Denying citizenship for children born in the United States to parents who are temporarily in the United States, including those on nonimmigrant student and work visas;
- Increasing employment verification (I-9) audits and workforce compliance;
- Imposing additional vetting of visa applicants at U.S. consular offices, resulting in increased denials of those applying for nonimmigrant student and work visas. This could also result in potentially ceasing visa interview waivers, and for those countries where vetting is so deficient, possibly suspending visa issuance in those countries altogether;
- Terminating parole programs, including those for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, potentially terminating their authorization to work in the United States;
- Reviewing Temporary Protected Status and potentially eliminating protections for those in the United States from TPS-designated countries;
- Renewing travel bans; and
- Declaring an “invasion” at the southern border, which could lead to increased scrutiny for those lawfully seeking entry into the United States.
Understandably, the swift issuance of these executive orders is likely to raise additional questions and cause uncertainty. We at Nilan Johnson Lewis understand these concerns, and we are here to answer questions you may have to help your business navigate these complexities.
While the impact of the new federal developments are not yet known, our team will continue to monitor new developments and will make all efforts possible to keep you updated. To sign up for up-to-date alerts about new immigration developments, and to be notified of all updates, we would recommend that you register here. If you have specific questions about your case or any other development that could impact your employees or business operations, do not hesitate to reach out to one of our Immigration Attorneys.
Attorney & Head, Corporate Immigration