Tag: Enforcement

Immigration enforcement is driving away early childhood educators

by Jackie Mader, The Hechinger Report
December 10, 2025

Close to 40,000 foreign-born child care workers have been driven out of the profession in the wake of the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation and detainment efforts, according to a new study by the Better Life Lab at the think tank New America. That represents about 12 percent of the foreign-born child care workforce.

Child care workers with at least a two-year college degree are most likely to be leaving the workforce, as well as workers who are from Mexico, a demographic targeted by ICE, or those who work in center-based care, the left-leaning think tank found. The disruption has worsened an already deep shortage of child care staffers, threatening the stability of the industry and in turn is contributing to tens of thousands of U.S.-born mothers dropping out of the labor market because they don’t have reliable child care.

In addition to workers facing detainment or deportation, many people are staying home to avoid situations where they may encounter Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the report found. Agents are detaining people who have not traditionally been the focus of ICE actions, including those following legal pathways like asylum seekers and green card applicants. Child care centers were once considered “sensitive locations” exempt from ICE enforcement, but the White House rescinded that in January. In at least one example, a child care worker was detained while arriving for work at a child care program.

“What’s different now is the ferocity of the enforcement,” said Chris Herbst, a professor at Arizona State University’s School of Public Affairs and one of the authors of the report, in an interview with The Hechinger Report. “ICE is arresting far more people, the number of deportations has risen dramatically,” he added. “People are scared out of their minds.”

Related: Young children have unique needs and providing the right care can be a challenge. Our free early childhood education newsletter tracks the issues.

America has long relied on immigrants to fill hard-to-staff caregiving positions and enable parents to work. Across the country, around 1 in 5 child care workers is an immigrant. In Florida and New York, immigrants account for nearly 40 percent of the child care workforce. One study that compared native-born and immigrant child care workers found that nearly 64 percent of immigrants had a two- or four-year college degree, compared to 53 percent of native-born workers. The study also noted that immigrant workers are more likely than native-born workers to have child development associate credentials and to invest in professional development activities.

Overall, the child care industry supports more than $152 billion in economic activity.

In Wisconsin, Elaine, the director of a child care center, said her program has benefited greatly from a Ukrainian immigrant who has been teaching there for two years, ever since arriving in the United States as part of a humanitarian parole program. (The Hechinger Report is not using Elaine’s last name or the city where her child care center is located because she fears action by immigration enforcement.) Elaine’s center has experienced a teacher shortage for the past 13 years, and the immigrant, who has a college degree and past experience in social services, has been a steady presence for the children there.

“She’s their consistent person. She spends more time than a lot of the parents do with the children during their waking hours,” Elaine said. “She’s there for them, she’s loving, she provides that support, that connection, that security that young children need.”

In January, the Trump administration suspended the Uniting for Ukraine program, which allowed Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion to live and work in the United States for two years. While the program later opened up a process to apply for an extension, Elaine’s employee has encountered delays, like many others.

The teacher’s parole expired this month. Under the law, she is now supposed to return to Ukraine, where her home city in southeast Ukraine is still under attack by Russian forces.

Elaine fears what will happen if the center loses her. “As a business, we need her. We need a teacher we can count on,” Elaine said. “For our teachers’ mental health, to have her leave and knowing where she would go would be really difficult.”

Elaine has decided to allow the employee to keep working, and is appealing to state lawmakers to help extend her stay. Several parents have also joined in the effort, writing letters to Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin telling her how much their children love the teacher — and how important she is to the local economy. One factor in granting an extension is that the person offers a “significant public benefit” to the country.

The authors of the new report found immigrants are not the only caregivers affected by ICE enforcement this year. There has also been a drop in U.S.-born child care workers in the industry, especially among Hispanic and less-educated caregivers. This could be the result of a “climate of fear and confusion” surrounding enforcement activity, according to the report, as well as a “perceived pattern of profiling or discriminatory enforcement practices.”

“These deportations have been sold under the theory that they are going to be a boon for U.S.-born workers once we sort of unclog the labor market by removing large numbers of undocumented immigrants,” Herbst said. “We’re finding at least in the child care industry, and at least in the short run, that appears not to be the case.” Some foreign-born and U.S.-born workers have different skills and do not seem to be competing for the same caregiving jobs, he added.

Not all workers are leaving the caregiving industry altogether. Some immigrants are shifting to work as nannies or au pairs, Herbst said, “finding refuge” in private homes where they are less likely to come into contact with state child care regulators or be part of formal wage systems. (Already, an estimated 142,000 undocumented immigrants work as nannies and personal care or home health aides nationwide.) That contact with regulators and other authorities may be a reason why center-based early childhood educators are leaving the field in greater proportions now, Herbst said.

These findings come at the end of a difficult year for the child care workforce, which has long been in crisis due to dismally low pay and challenging work conditions. More than half of child care providers surveyed this year by the RAPID Survey Project at Stanford University reported experiencing difficulty affording food, the highest rate since the survey started collecting data on provider hunger in 2021. Other recent reports have found child care providers are at a higher risk for clinical depression, and in some cities an increasing number are taking on part-time jobs to make ends meet.

Across the country this year, early childhood providers have seen drops in enrollment as families pull their children out of schools and programs to avoid ICE. Child care centers are losing money and finding that some staff members are too scared to come to work or have lost work authorization after the administration ended certain refugee programs. Many child care workers have taken on additional roles driving children to and from care, collecting emergency numbers and plans for children in their care in case parents are detained and dropping off food for families too scared to leave their homes.

This story about immigration enforcement was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter.

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December 10, 2025
Districts report enrollment drops amid heightened immigration enforcement
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Dive Brief:
- Los Angeles Unified School District’s enrollment fell 4% year over year to 392,654 for 2025-26 — a greater-than-expected drop in a year where the school system has faced heightened immigration enforcement. The dip is “deeply connected to the realities our immigrant families are facing,” Superintendent Alberto Carvalho told K-12 Dive in a statement Tuesday.
- Other districts affected by increased immigration enforcement activities have also reported enrollment drops, including Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida and Chicago Public Schools. The uptick in enforcement followed a Trump administration policy change in January that allows immigration raids at schools.
- In many areas, these declines are partly driven by lower enrollment for newcomers, defined as students who have been enrolled for three years or fewer in any U.S. school, were born outside the U.S., and are English learners.
Dive Insight:

“These declines reflect a climate of fear and instability created by ongoing immigration crackdowns, which disrupt family stability, housing, and mobility,” said Carvalho. “These fears are now exacerbating pre-existing factors that were already driving statewide enrollment declines — including falling birth rates, rising housing costs, and broader economic pressures.”

LAUSD and its surrounding areas have seen an increase in immigration enforcement activity in both the current and previous school years, including incidents in which U.S. Department of Homeland Security officers attempted to gain entry into elementary schools by allegedly making false claims they had parent permission to speak with students. In another instance, agents apprehended a high school student with a disability while he was enrolling for classes in an apparent case of mistaken identity.

LAUSD families and those in other areas hit by heightened immigration enforcement have also experienced activity during school pickup and dropoff hours.

The impact of these activities on attendance has led some school leaders to emphasize the possibility of virtual schools.

Now, the apparent toll on enrollment — including that of newcomers — is set to impact districts’ budgets.

In LAUSD, newcomer enrollment for students who were expected to return for the 2025-26 school year is down 9% at 16,668, compared to the projected 18,232.

“Unless these overlapping issues are addressed at the state level, California’s public schools will face long-term ramifications that will affect classrooms, staffing, programming, and the future of public education itself,” said Carvalho.

Late last month, congressional Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in which they inquired about steps the department is taking to protect students as raids impact their families and communities. The lawmakers wrote that they are “deeply concerned” about the fallout.

“The chaotic manner in which raids and apprehensions are being carried out is injecting needless trauma into these communities, which then makes its way into schools and contributes to absenteeism,” said lawmakers, led by House Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott, D-Va. Students, regardless of their immigration status, are being impacted, they wrote.

“The consequences of the Administration’s actions show that our nation’s students, families, and schools need resources to help in the days ahead,” the lawmakers wrote.
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December 4, 2025
Child care workers are building a network of resistance against Immigration and Customs Enforcement

This story was produced by The 19th and reprinted with permission.

The mother was just arriving to pick up her girls at their elementary school in Chicago when someone with a bullhorn at the nearby shopping center let everyone know: ICE is here.

The white van screeched to a halt right next to where she was parked, and three Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents piled out. They said something in English that she couldn’t decipher, then arrested her on the spot. Her family later said they never asked about her documentation.

She was only able to get one phone call out before she was taken away. “The girls,” was all she said to her sister. Her daughters, a third grader and a fourth grader, were still waiting for her inside the school.

Luckily, the girls’ child care provider had prepared for this very moment.

Sandra had been taking care of the girls since they were babies, and now watched them after school. She’d been encouraging the family to get American passports for the kids and signed documents detailing their wishes should the mother be detained.

When Sandra got the call that day in September, she headed straight to the school to pick up the girls.

Since President Donald Trump won a second term, Sandra has been prepping the 10 families at her home-based day care, including some who lack permanent legal status, for the possibility that they may be detained. (The 19th is only using Sandra’s first name and not naming the mother to protect their identities.)

She’s worked with families to get temporary guardianship papers sorted and put a plan in place in case they were detained and their kids were left behind. She even had a psychologist come and speak to the families about the events that had been unfolding across the country to help the children understand that there are certain situations their parents can’t control, and give them the opportunity to talk through their fears that, one day, mamá and papá might not be there to pick them up.

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And for two elementary school kids, that day did come. Sandra met them outside the school.

“When they saw me, they knew something wasn’t right,” Sandra said in Spanish. “Are we never going to see our mom again?” they asked.

For all her planning, she was speechless.

“One prepares for these things, but still doesn’t have the words on what to say,” Sandra said.

Related: Young children have unique needs and providing the right care can be a challenge. Our free early childhood education newsletter tracks the issues.

After that day, Sandra worked with the mother’s sister to get the girls situated to fly to Texas, where their mother, who had full custody of them, was being detained, and then eventually to Mexico. She hasn’t heard from them in over a month. The girls were born in the United States and know nothing of Mexico.

“I think about them in a strange country,” Sandra said. “‘Who is going to care for them like I do?’ Now with this situation I get sad because I think they are the ones who are going to suffer.”

In this year of immigration raids, child care providers have stepped up to keep families unified amid incredible uncertainty. Some are agreeing to be temporary guardians for kids should something happen to their parents. The workers themselves are also under threat — 1 in 5 child care workers are immigrant women, most of them Latinas, who are also having to prepare in case they are detained, particularly while children are in their care. Already, child care workers across the country have been detained and deported.

“The immigration and the child care movements, they are one in the same now,” said Anali Alegria, the director of federal advocacy and media relations at the Child Care for Every Family Network, a national child care advocacy group. “Child care is not just something that keeps the economy going, while it does. It’s also really integral to people’s community and family lives. And so when you’re destabilizing it, you’re also destabilizing something much more fundamental and very tender to that child and that family’s life.”

A loose network of resistance has emerged, with detailed protection plans, ICE lookout patrols, and Signal or Whatsapp chats. Home-based providers like Sandra have been especially involved in that effort because their work often means their lives are even more intertwined with the families they care for.

“All the families we have in our program, I consider them family. We arrive in this country and we don’t have family, and when we get support, advice or the simple act of caring for kids, as child care providers we are essential in many of these families — even more in these times,” said Sandra, who has been caring for children in the United States for 25 years. All the families she cares for are Latinx, 70 percent without permanent legal status.

Related: 1 in 5 child care workers is an immigrant. Trump’s deportations and raids have many terrified

According to advocacy groups, child care providers are increasingly being asked to look after kids in case they are detained, typically because they are the only trusted person the family knows with U.S. citizenship or legal permanent residence. Parents are asking child care workers to be emergency contacts, short-term guardians and, in some cases, even long-term guardians.

“We heard this under the first Trump administration, and we’re hearing it much more now. It’s not so much a matter of if, but when, right now, and it used to be the other way around,” said Wendy Cervantes, the director of immigration and immigrant families at the Center for Law and Social Policy, an anti-poverty nonprofit. “It adds just additional stress and trauma because they deeply care about these kids. Many of them have kids of their own and obviously have modest incomes, so as much as they want to say, ‘yes’, they can’t in some cases.”

The question was posed to Claudia Pellecer a couple weeks ago. A home-based child care provider in Chicago for 17 years, Pellecer cares for numerous Latinx families, at least one of whom doesn’t have permanent legal status.

In October, one of those moms was due to appear before ICE for a regular check-in as part of her ongoing asylum case. But she knew that many have been detained at those appointments this year.

The mother asked Pellecer to be her 1-year-old son’s legal guardian should she be taken away.

“I couldn’t say no because I am human, I am a mother,” Pellecer said.

Claudia Pellecer, who runs a small daycare for young children out of her home, stands for a portrait outside her house. Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th

They got to work getting the baby a passport and filling out the necessary guardianship paperwork. Pellecer kept the originals and copies. The mother closed her bank account, cleaned out her apartment and prepped two bags, one for her and one for the baby. If the mother was deported, Pellecer would fly with him to meet her in Ecuador, they agreed.

The day of the appointment, she dropped the baby off with Pellecer and set the final plan. Her appointment was at 1 p.m. “If at 6 p.m. you haven’t heard from me, that means I was detained,” she told Pellecer, who cried and wished her luck.

At the appointment, the judge asked her three sets of questions:

“Why are you here?”

“Are you working? Do you have a family?”

“Do you have proof of what happened to you in your country?”

Related: Child care centers were off limit to immigration authorities. How that’s changed

Claudia Pellecer plays games with children in the living room of her home daycare, where she cares for up to eight young children a day. Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th

The judge agreed to let her stay and told her to continue working. The mother won’t have a court date again until 2027.

“We learned our lesson,” Pellecer said. “We had to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

But their relief was short-lived. Recent events in Chicago have sent child care workers and families into panic, as the people who have tried to keep families together are now being targeted.

Resistance networks have sprung up rapidly in Chicago in recent weeks after a child care worker was followed to Spanish immersion day care Rayito de Sol on the city’s North Side and arrested in front of children and other teachers. The arrest was caught on camera and has sparked demonstrations across the city.

Erin Horetski, whose son, Harrison, was cared for by the worker who was arrested at Rayito de Sol in early November, said parents there had been worried ICE might one day target them because the center specifically hired Spanish-speaking staff.

The morning of the arrest, parents were texting each other once they heard ICE was in the shopping center where the day care is located.

Children crawl on a colorful rug while playing educational games at Claudia Pellecer’s home daycare. Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th

Her husband was just arriving to drop off their boys as ICE was leaving. The first thing out of his mouth when he called her: “They took Miss Diana.”

Agents entered the school without a warrant to arrest infant class teacher Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano, an immigrant from Colombia. DHS said part of the reason for her arrest was because she helped bring her two teenage children across the southern U.S. border this year. “Facilitating human smuggling is a crime,” DHS said. Santillana Galeano fled Colombia fearing for her safety in 2023, filed for asylum and was given a work permit through November 2029, according to court documents. She has no known criminal record. After her arrest, a federal judge ruled that her detention without access to a bond hearing was illegal and she was released November 12.

Horetski said the incident, the first known ICE arrest inside a day care, has spurred the community to action. A GoFundMe account set up by Horetski to support Santillana Galeano, has raised more than $150,000.

Horetski said what’s been lost in the story of what happened at Rayito is the humanity of the person at the center of it, someone she said was “like a second mother” to her son.

“At the end of the day, she was a person and a friend and a mother and provider to our kids — I think we need to remember that,” Horetski said.

Related: They crossed the border for better schools. Now, some families are leaving the US

Now, the parents are the ones coming together to put in place a safety plan for the teachers, most of whom have continued to come to the school and care for their children.

They are working on establishing a safe passage patrol, setting up parents with whistles at the front of the school to stand guard during arrival and dismissal time to ensure teachers can come and go to their cars or to public transit safely. Parents are also establishing escorts for teachers who may need a ride to work or someone to accompany them on the bus or the train. A meal train set up by the parents is helping to send food to the teachers through Thanksgiving, and two local restaurants have pitched in with discounts. Some of the parents are also lawyers who are considering setting up a legal clinic to ensure workers know their rights, Horetski said.

A young child watches an educational TV show in the living room of Claudia Pellecer’s home daycare in Chicago. Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th

Figuring out how to come together to support teachers and the children who now have questions about safety is something that “continues to circle in all of our minds and brains,” Horeski said. “It’s hard to not have the answers or know how to best move forward. We’re in such uncharted territory that you’re like, ‘Where do you go from here?’ So we’re kind of paving that because this is the first time that something like this has happened.”

Prep is top of mind now for organizers including at the Service Employees International Union, where Sandra and Pellecer are members, who are convening emergency child care worker trainings to set up procedures, such as posted signs that say ICE cannot enter without a warrant, showing them what the warrants must include to be binding, helping them set a designated person to speak to ICE should they enter and talking to their families to offer support.

Cervantes has been doing this work since Trump’s first term, when it was clear immigration was going to be a key focus for the president. This year has been different, though. Child care centers were previously protected under a “sensitive locations” directive that advised ICE to not conduct enforcement in places like schools and day cares. But Trump removed that protection on his first day in office this year, signaling a more aggressive approach to ICE enforcement was coming.

Cervantes and her team are currently in the midst of a research project about child care workers across the country, conversations that are also illuminating for them just how dire the situation has become for providers.

“We are asking providers to make protocols for what is basically a man-made disaster,” she said. “They shouldn’t have to worry about protecting children and staff from the government.”

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December 3, 2025
WHD Issues Enforcement Guidance on Independent Contractor Classification – CUPA-HR
by CUPA-HR | May 5, 2025

On May 1, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued a field assistance bulletin providing guidance on determining employee or independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) while DOL reviews the 2024 final rule, Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The rule currently faces legal action in multiple federal court cases in which the Trump DOL has taken the position that it is reconsidering the 2024 rule, including whether to rescind the regulation.

Simply put, the bulletin states that WHD “will no longer apply the 2024 Rule’s analysis when determining employee versus independent contractor status in FLSA investigations.” Instead, WHD will enforce the FLSA’s worker classification rules according to Fact Sheet #13, which was issued in 2008, and Opinion Letter FLSA2019-6, which was issued during President Trump’s first term.

The opinion letter from Trump’s first term articulates WHD’s position on gig economy worker classification, ultimately finding such workers to be independent contractors because they work for the consumer and do not fit “any traditional employment paradigm” under the FLSA. The Biden administration previously withdrew the opinion letter, but it has now been reinstated as Opinion Letter FLSA2025-2.

Fact Sheet #13 provides a broader perspective regarding the meaning of “employment relationship.” It specifically asserts that an employee under the FLSA is “one who, as a matter of economic reality, follows the usual path of an employee and is dependent on the business which he or she serves,” and that an employer-employee relationship under the law is tested by “economic reality.” It also lists seven factors that are considered significant by the Supreme Court in determining employee classification under the FLSA:

The extent to which the services rendered are an integral part of the principal’s business;

The permanency of the relationship;

The amount of the alleged contractor’s investment in facilities and equipment;

The nature and degree of control by the principal;

The alleged contractor’s opportunities for profit and loss;

The amount of initiative, judgment, or foresight in open market competition with others required for the success of the claimed independent contractor; and

The degree of independent business organization and operation.

Looking Ahead

The field assistance bulletin changes the enforcement priorities of WHD with respect to worker classification, though the Biden administration’s independent contractor rule remains in effect for the time being. Legal challenges against the Biden rule are ongoing, and the Trump administration has started reviewing the regulation, though there is no official process yet to rescind it.

CUPA-HR continues to monitor for updates related to the independent contractor classification regulations and will keep members informed of future updates.

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May 5, 2025
Florida Atlantic Police Seek Immigration Enforcement Powers

Florida Atlantic University reportedly has a pending agreement with the federal government to allow its campus police department to question and detain individuals who are suspected of being in the U.S. without legal authorization, The Florida Phoenix reported.

The public university located in Boca Raton is a Hispanic-serving institution.

If FAU police acquire immigration enforcement authority, the university would seemingly be the first in the nation to deputize campus cops as federal enforcement agents, the Phoenix noted.

However, it appears that all other Florida institutions with sworn police departments will follow FAU’s lead to comply with a February directive from Gov. Ron DeSantis requiring state law enforcement agencies to enter into an agreement “to execute functions of immigration enforcement within the state” so “deportations can be carried out more efficiently.”

“All state law enforcement agencies are expected to follow the governor’s Feb. 19 directive on working U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” FAU spokesperson Joshua Glanzer wrote to Inside Higher Ed. “This includes FAUPD and other state university police departments.”

The move comes after Florida Atlantic hired former GOP lawmaker Adam Hasner to be president in February. Hasner, who once boasted of being “the most partisan Republican in Tallahassee,” served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2002 to 2010. Prior to taking the top job at FAU, Hasner was an executive at the GEO Group, a for-profit prison company.

The GEO Group currently runs more than a dozen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers in California, Florida, Texas and various other states, according to its website.

Hasner’s history with the GEO Group was a matter of contention for students and others during the hiring process; some raised objections during public forums about his for-profit prison past. Other critics expressed concerns about his lack of administrative experience in higher education.

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April 4, 2025
Department of Education Releases Enforcement Guidance for Title IX

by CUPA-HR | February 5, 2025

On February 4, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to institutions of higher education regarding enforcement of Title IX regulations. Specifically, the letter reaffirms that OCR will enforce the first Trump administration’s Title IX rule instead of the Biden administration’s Title IX rule.

As a reminder, in early January of this year, a judge from the Eastern District of Kentucky Court struck down the Biden administration’s rule nationwide, reverting enforcement back to the 2020 Title IX regulations for all institutions. In the Dear Colleague letter, OCR states that the Department of Justice is responsible for determining whether to appeal the district court’s decision, but they confirm that the decision was effective immediately and that the Biden administration’s rule is no longer in effect in any jurisdiction.

In addition to the court decision, the letter also points to Trump’s executive order, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” The letter restates from the executive order that all federal agencies are directed to “‘enforce all sex-protective laws to promote [the] reality’ that there are ‘two sexes, male and female,’ and that ‘[t]hese sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.’” As such, the letter states that OCR must enforce Title IX consistent with the executive order.

Finally, the letter orders all open Title IX investigations initiated under the Biden administration’s Title IX rule to “be immediately reoriented to comport fully with the requirements of the 2020 Title IX rule.” It also directs institutions to a Title IX resource page on the Department of Education’s website, which includes resources that provide an overview of the changing Title IX landscape over the past couple of years.

CUPA-HR is hosting a webinar on Title IX and Title IV enforcement at OCR on February 25 at 1 p.m. ET. The webinar is free to attend but registration is limited. A recording of the webinar will be available after the live event. CUPA-HR will continue to monitor for new developments related to Title IX enforcement under the new Trump administration.

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February 5, 2025
Trump Signs Executive Order on Enforcement of Immigration Laws, Potentially Leading to Increased Worksite Enforcement Action
by CUPA-HR | January 29, 2025

Along with several immigration-related executive orders and actions issued on Inauguration Day, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.” The EO sets several directives for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to enforce immigration law against immigrants without permanent legal status in the U.S. and could implicate employers the government deems as “facilitating” the presence of such individuals.

Sections 4 and 5 of the EO establish civil and criminal enforcement priorities for relevant federal agencies. Specifically, the EO directs the secretary of Homeland Security to enable ICE and USCIS to set priorities for their agencies that would ensure successful enforcement of final orders of removal. Additionally, Section 8 of the EO directs increased enforcement action in the form of civil fines and penalties. The EO directs the secretary of Homeland Security to ensure assessment and collection of all fines and penalties from individuals unlawfully present in the U.S. and, notably, those who facilitate such individuals’ presence in the U.S.

Depending on how the agencies respond to this order, these three sections of the EO could lead to an uptick in worksite enforcement action. As a result of this EO, agencies could take increased enforcement action for employment-related immigration law, which could lead to agency actions such as Form I-9 audits and potential investigations and worksite visits related to immigration compliance. Employers who are not in compliance with federal immigration laws could be considered as entities that potentially “facilitate” the presence of immigrants without permanent legal status, which could lead to significant fines and other penalties for the employers.

Next Steps for HR Leaders

CUPA-HR has always worked to help you ensure that your institution’s Form I-9 processes are in compliance with federal requirements, and we’ve partnered with USCIS for many years to provide periodic guidance, support and resources. We also understand that it is sometimes a challenge to ensure total compliance for large, sprawling campuses and that some of you have employees at worksites across your state, the country and the globe. Through speeches and actions like this executive order, the Trump administration has made it clear that they intend to focus enforcement efforts on immigrants without permanent legal status and businesses employing them. As noted above, it is possible that there could be I-9 audits and site visits to ensure compliance. Penalties for noncompliance could include very large fines and loss of federal funding.

In light of this EO, it is vital for institutions to review their compliance with immigration laws regarding employment eligibility and work authorization. There are several questions HR leaders should ask themselves when reviewing compliance:

If you were notified tomorrow that your institution’s Form I-9 records were going to be audited in the coming weeks, where would your institution be most vulnerable?

What actions do you need to take today to address any potential vulnerabilities?

Do your presidents, provosts and other campus leaders understand and appreciate the magnitude of this potential challenge?

What changes do you need to make to your institution’s hiring and onboarding practices now to ensure compliance moving forward?

CUPA-HR will continue to monitor for any additional updates related to the Form I-9 and other hiring processes related to work authorization. If you need additional guidance or resources, please review the CUPA-HR I-9/E-Verify Toolkit.

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January 29, 2025
WHD Begins Enforcement of Remedies Provided Under PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act – CUPA-HR

by CUPA-HR | May 1, 2023

On April 28, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) will begin enforcing remedies for employer violations of an employee’s right to reasonable break time and space to pump breast milk under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). These remedies were codified into law under the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act, which was included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 — year-end legislation to fund the federal government.

As a reminder, the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act amends the FLSA to expand access to breastfeeding accommodations in the workplace for lactating employees and builds on existing protections in the 2010 Break Time for Nursing Mothers Provision by broadening breastfeeding accommodations and workplace protections. In the new law, protections are expanded to include salaried employees exempt from overtime pay requirements under the FLSA as well as other categories of employees currently exempt from such protections, such as teachers, nurses and farmworkers. It also clarifies that break time provided under this bill is considered compensable hours worked so long as the worker is not completely relieved of duty during such breaks, and it ensures remedies for nursing mothers for employer violations of the bill.

According to a WHD fact sheet on FLSA protections to pump breast milk at work, there will be several legal or equitable remedies employers will be liable for if they are found to have violated an employee’s right to reasonable time and space to pump in the workplace. The document states that remedies may include “employment, reinstatement, promotion, and the payment of wages lost and an additional equal amount as liquidated damages, compensatory damages and make-whole relief, such as economic losses that resulted from violations, and punitive damages where appropriate.” The fact sheet also clarifies that the remedies listed above will be available regardless of whether an employee experienced retaliation.

In addition to the fact sheet, the WHD has issued several resources on the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act’s provisions since its enactment. On February 9, the WHD issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2023-1, “Telework Under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Family and Medical Leave Act.” This bulletin provides guidance for WHD field staff on how to apply protections under the FLSA that provide reasonable break time for nursing employees to express milk while teleworking, among other clarifications. The bulletin explicitly refers to the passage of the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act and its expanded coverage to more employees. Additionally, on March 16, the WHD held a webinar to provide resources and tools to assist employees who wish to continue breastfeeding after returning to work and to help employers understand their responsibilities under the Act.

For more information on the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act and FLSA protections to pump at work, the WHD has provided a resource website with general guidance, additional resources and the webinar on the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act. CUPA-HR will keep members apprised of any updates to this law and others regarding FLSA protections for pregnant and nursing workers.

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May 1, 2023