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 Orders Payment of $100,000 for Any New Visas Issued to Foreign Workers in Certain Highly Skilled Professions
This payment is designed to try to stem abuse of this program and instead make sure employers make adequate efforts to fill the positions with people already living in the United States.
Impact: With the new fee applying only to new visas and not to existing visa holders, it remains to be seen just how effective the new policy will be.
Trump Issues “The Gold Card” Executive Order, Allowing People and Employers To Purchase Immigration Visas for $1 Million and $2 Million Respectively
Visas are very hard to come by, with many people waiting more than a decade to immigrate to the United States to escape oppressive conditions and be reunited with family members.
Impact: The United States will now start the unseemly practice of selling visas to those who can afford to spend exhorbitant amounts of money, rather than those who have waited in line and have compelling reasons to immigrate.
Immigration Raids and Audits Impacting Workers and Elevating Risks to Businesses
Aggressive Trump administration immigration policy is putting businesses and gig corporations and their workforces on edge as companies anticipate a hiring squeeze.
Impact:
More than two dozen quarterly or annual filings from companies over the last month have revealed deep anxiety over civil penalties, workplace raids, and worker shortages in many sectors, as a result of the Trump administration’s immigration policy. Impacts are being felt and anticipated in science and technology sectors as well as in app-based or gig corporations. In some cities, up to 90 percent of ridehail drivers on digital labor platforms are immigrants, according to some reports.
U.S. Labor Force Has Lost 1.2 Million Immigrant Workers This Year, New Report Finds
A Pew Research Center analysis of Census data has found that 1.2 million immigrant workers left the U.S. labor force between January and July 2025. That total is inclusive of both documented and undocumented immigrants.
Impact:
Immigrant workers contribute to job growth and overall economic strength, and make up nearly 20% of the U.S. workforce. Businesses in industries that disproportionately rely on immigrant workers, like agriculture, construction, and care work, are particularly hard hit, with reports of wasted crops and construction slowdowns.
Trump Attacks on Immigrants Worsening Caregiving Crisis
Millions of Americans rely on care workers to support themselves or family members on a day-to-day basis, and that workforce includes a significant share of both documented and undocumented immigrants. There is already an increasing shortage of workers to fill these critical roles, and Trump’s attacks on immigrants of all statuses will likely exacerbate this crisis.
Impact:
Weakening our care infrastructure can have ripple effects across the economy, as losing access to care workers can force family members out of the workforce to care for aging relatives or family members with disabilities.
Work Visas Revoked for 200 Workers at Iowa Meatpacking Plant
The Trump administration has revoked the visas of hundreds of workers from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela at an Iowa meatpacking plant who no longer have Temporary Protected Status work authorization.
Impact:
The 200 impacted workers were given notice by their employer JBS—the largest meat processor in the world—that they are no longer employed and must leave the country immediately. The Trump administration has resumed immigration raids on agricultural facilities, including meatpacking facilities. Approximately 42 percent of workers at meatpacking plants are immigrants.
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.
IRS Developing Computer Program to Give ICE Access to Confidential Taxpayer Information
Although undocumented immigrants have long been encouraged to secure Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) to pay federal taxes—and many have done so—the IRS is now ready to give U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unfettered access to this information, so that it can go to the homes of immigrant tax filers for the purpose of detaining and deporting them.
Impact: In the short term, this leaves millions of taxpaying workers and their families vulnerable to detention and deportation. In the long term, it will discourage immigrant workers from paying federal taxes and will increase the risk of data breaches with people's supposedly confidential taxpayer information.
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.
DOL Issues Guidance Mandating That Federally Funded Employment Services Can Only Be Given to People With Work Authorization
Reversing a Biden-era policy, the Trump DOL will not provide workforce development or employment services to undocumented workers.
Impact: Among the services now banned are help obtaining work authorization and enforcing employment rights applicable to all workers regardless of work authorization.