DHS Support of the Enforcement of Labor and Employment Laws
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security plays an important role in ensuring that our nation's workplaces comply with our laws by supporting federal, state, and local labor and employment agencies to accomplish their important work enforcing wage protections, workplace safety, labor rights, and other laws and standards. See the Oct. 12, 2021, DHS Policy Statement 065-06, “Worksite Enforcement: The Strategy to Protect the American Labor Market, the Conditions of the American Worksite, and the Dignity of the Individual.”
Workers are sometimes afraid to report violations of law by exploitative employers or to cooperate in employment and labor standards investigations because they fear removal or other immigration-related retaliation due to reports by an abusive employer. DHS’s practice of offering discretionary protection on a case-by-case basis to victims who lack employment authorization directly increases the ability of labor and employment agencies to more fully investigate worksite violations and support them in fulfilling their mission and holding abusive employers accountable, which protects all U.S. workers. The process changes announced today will streamline the exercise of DHS’s existing authority to grant such protection.
