Reports of labor exploitation can lead to employment authorization

Deferred action is a streamlined and expedited tool that can shield vulnerable migrant and immigrant workers from threats of deportation for reporting unsafe or exploitative employers. Employers taking advantage of risky work conditions need to be on notice of these new protections.

Temporary protection and employment authorization.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that a streamlined and expedited deferred action request is now available to noncitizen workers who are victims of labor rights violations and offers protections from threats of immigration-relation retaliation such as deportation. A noncitizen suffering from exploitive working conditions can now report unlawful activity to a labor agency requesting an investigation and can attain lawful employment authorization while the investigation takes place.

While deferred action does not automatically grant lawful status or excuse past unlawful presence, a noncitizen granted deferred action is considered lawfully present in the U.S. while deferred action is in effect. If deferred action is approved, it may be granted for up to two years at time, and workers can request an additional two-year period of deferred action, so long as the request is made 120 days prior to the expiration of the original granted period.

Pursuing deferred action status