Worker Policy Watch

Your source for accurate and reliable information on how federal policies are shaping workers’ rights—and what’s at stake for working people nationwide under the Trump administration.

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Trump Admin Ends Labor Violation Enforcement Program for Undocumented Workers

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) sunsets the Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement (DALE) program, designed to encourage undocumented workers to come forward with labor violations.
 
Impact: Under the Biden-era DALE program, undocumented workers involved in a state or federal labor investigation could apply to USCIS for four years of deferred action from deportation and temporary work authorization. The end of DALE could impede federal and state labor law enforcement efforts.

Trump Nominates James Murphy and Scott Mayer to the NLRB

Murphy is a partner at management-side law firm Ogletree Deakins, and Mayer is the chief labor counsel at the Boeing Corporation. Ogletree is a well-known union-busting firm, and Boeing has engaged in longstanding union-busting campaigns to prevent its employees from engaging in collective bargaining.
 
Impact: With the addition of these two pro-management members to the Board, expect the Board's actions and decisions to reflect their bias toward management.

Supreme Court Green-Lights Trump Plan to Dismantle U.S. Department of Education

The U.S. Supreme Court is allowing the Trump administration to continue with plans to lay off almost 1,400 workers from the U.S. Department of Education (ED), further enabling the administration’s stated goal of dismantling the department.
 
Impact: These firings have left the ED unable to carry out its core responsibilities required by Congress, including duties to support special education, enforce civil rights laws, and distribute financial aid. Although ED is a congressionally authorized government agency and cannot be eliminated without congressional action, this latest ruling will allow Trump to effectively dismantle the ED without congressional action.

Trump Administration Fires 17 Immigration Judges

The Trump administration fired 17 immigration judges across 10 states without cause. In one case, the judge was fired after speaking with Sen. Dick Durbin (IL) during his visit to a Chicago immigration court. A shortage of immigration judges contributes to the long time it takes to resolve immigration cases.
 
Impact: The Trump administration claims to want to speed up those waiting periods by hiring more immigration judges, but 103 judges have either been fired or took voluntary buyouts since Trump took office, reducing the total number of immigration judges to fewer than 600. Congress allocated more than $3 billion in its reconciliation bill to bolster the hiring of immigration judges and support staff. But firing judges without cause over a perceived political disagreement—and stacking immigration courts with new ones—is a concerning dynamic amidst the administration’s brutal crackdown on immigrant communities.

USDOL Announces $5 Million in Grants to Expand Apprenticeship Opportunities for Women

U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer has announced a $5 million funding opportunity for grants for 14 groups to attract and retain women in apprenticeship programs in manufacturing, construction, cybersecurity, and other in-demand industries.
 
Impact: The Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) Grant Program plans to support community-based organizations to recruit, train, and retain women in registered apprenticeships and high-demand occupations.

U.S. Supreme Court Allows Trump’s Mass Firings of Federal Public Servants to Proceed

The Supreme Court has rejected a lower court’s order to block the Trump administration from mass firings and reorganizing of federal agencies without approval from Congress.
 
Impact: The Supreme Court’s decision could pave the way for more firings of workers, as some agencies announce they will resume plans for mass layoffs in light of the ruling. The planned mass firings could impact tens of thousands of workers from the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, State, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and more than a dozen other agencies.

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