Deportation Fears Spread Among Immigrants With Provisional Legal Status

President Trump is targeting people who have been living in the country under Biden immigration programs that shielded them from deportation and allowed them to work.

Bearing Social Security numbers and employment authorization, workers who recently arrived from places like Haiti and Venezuela have been packing and sorting orders at Amazon; making car parts for Toyota and Honda; and working in hotels, restaurants and assisted-living facilities.

On Friday, they woke up to the news from the Trump administration that many of them could be abruptly detained and swiftly deported.

A memo issued by the acting secretary of Homeland Security instructs immigration agents to speed up the deportation of immigrants who have been admitted under certain programs that were created by the Biden administration and have benefited about 1.5 million people.

Many of them have a protected status that stretches for another year or two. Tens of thousands, who arrived more recently, likely do not.

The memo leaves unclear exactly who could be deported.

Frantzdy Jerome, a Haitian migrant who had scheduled an appointment at a port of entry along the southern border, was admitted into the country in June. Within weeks, he was issued a work permit, and he has been working the overnight shift at an Amazon warehouse in the Midwest. He worries that he could be designated for deportation.