By Brooke Thomson
President & CEO

Massachusetts employers already struggling to find workers are bracing for additional challenges during the coming months as federal programs granting legal status to employees from Haiti, Venezuela and other nations face an uncertain future.

Certain humanitarian programs that allow nationals of countries facing unsafe conditions due to armed conflict or natural disasters to enter the United States legally and obtain work authorization have already ended or are being phased down as part of the Trump Administration’s immigration policy. The CHNV program (Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela) has been terminated with the concurrence of the U.S. Supreme Court and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is being curtailed for certain countries.

As a result, thousands of workers who fled violence will lose their ability to work here in Massachusetts. That prospect has some AIM members concerned as they struggle to attract and retain employees in a tight labor market driven by a still-modest 4.6 percent unemployment rate.

Adding to the challenge is that companies report that they have not received notice from the government on how to proceed. Employers could be held liable for employing these now unauthorized workers, even though these people were vetted and received work authorizations.

Employers invested in training, and these employees are working.

“We do not intend or seek to be in violation of any laws or orders,” Chris White, chief executive of Road to Responsibility, which serves 1,000 people across Southeastern Massachusetts, told The Boston Globe last week. “We just don’t know how we’re supposed to do this.”

Once these protections end, individuals who have not obtained another legal status in the U.S. will lose their work authorization, return to an undocumented status, and potentially be subject to removal proceedings.

Advocates and employers experienced in the process recommend that Haitian and other nationals affected by the changes speak with a qualified immigration attorney to assess possible relief such as asylum, family-based petitions, or adjustment of status.

The best advice for employers is to sit tight and await guidance from the federal government or notification that an employee’s work authorization has been revoked. AIM strongly recommends that employers not pre-emptively terminate workers based on a general understanding of their immigration status.

The concern surrounding the ability of these employees to continue to work legally underscores the immense contribution that immigrants make to the Massachusetts economy.

Almost 22 percent of employed workers in Massachusetts are immigrants, according to the most recent available date from 2023. The labor force participation rate — the percentage of the working-age population working or actively seeking work — for immigrants in Massachusetts was 71.2%, higher than the 66.0% rate for the native-born population. It is not unusual for immigrants to seek work at a higher rate than the native-born population in the state.

The American Immigration Council report reports that immigrants were particularly prevalent in manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, and other services industries. Ten percent of immigrants are self-employed versus 7.5 percent of US born citizens. Thirty-one percent of new US businesses are founded by immigrants.

And immigrants affect the economy at all levels. Forty-seven percent of doctoral degrees awarded by MIT this year went to foreign students.

In 2023, 1.26 million Massachusetts residents were foreign born, representing 17.5 percent. The Immigrant Learning Center reports that 78 percent of Massachusetts immigrants have legal authorization while 22 percent are undocumented. More than half (54.5 percent) of immigrants in Massachusetts have become US citizens.

AIM, with a clear understanding of the value that immigrants bring to our economy, will continue to monitor changes in federal policy and advise members of the implications.