US business owners are confused about Venezuelan employees with temporary status
Source: AP
Updated 9:08 PM EDT, May 20, 2025
DORAL, Fla. (AP) — As a business owner in the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, Wilmer Escaray is stressed and in shock. He is unsure what steps he should take after the Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump to strip legal protections from hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants. Escaray owns 15 restaurants and three markets, most of them in Doral, a city of 80,000 in the Miami area people known as “Little Venezuela” or “Doralzuela.” At least 70% of Escaray’s 150 employees and many of his customers are Venezuelan immigrants with Temporary Protected Status, also known as TPS.
The Supreme Court on Monday lifted a federal judge’s ruling that had paused the administration’s plans to end TPS for 350,000 Venezuelans, potentially exposing them to deportation. The Department of Homeland Security welcomed the ruling but has given no details on when TPS is ending and what employers and beneficiaries should do.
“The Trump Administration does not rest on its laurels. We will act in an expeditious manner,” Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security assistant secretary, said Tuesday in a written response to questions about any expiration date for TPS after the court ruling and whether work permits were still valid.
Like many U.S. business owners with Venezuelan employees, Escaray does not know how long his employees will have legal authorization to work or whether he will be able to help them. “The impact for the business will be really hard,” said Escaray, a 37-year-old Venezuelan American who came to the U.S. to study in 2007 and opened his first restaurant six years later. “I don’t know yet what I am going to do. I have to discuss with my team, with my family to see what will be the plan.”
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/immigrants-protections-venezuela-trump-businesses-36160c8c27e735e9111961a615ecd550