On Jan. 13, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a process for labor and employment agency-related requests for deferred action. According to the DHS press release, “Noncitizen workers who are victims of, or witnesses to, the violation of labor rights, can now access a streamlined and expedited deferred action request process.”

Workers will be able to visit dhs.gov for additional information in English and Spanish and to submit requests. The release further states, “These improvements advance the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to empowering workers and improving workplace conditions by enabling all workers, including noncitizens, to assert their legal rights.”

Following the DHS’s announcement, the National Labor Relations Board issued a release, with General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo saying that “the enhancements to DHS’s processes are critical to ensuring that immigrant workers, and all workers, can safely exercise their labor rights and participate in the NLRB’s enforcement operations without fear of immigration-related retaliation from their employer. I will continue to utilize DHS’s processes to the fullest extent necessary to ensure that we can effectively enforce labor law in every workplace where workers are protected by the National Labor Relations Act.”

According to the NLRB release, “The NLRB also issued a fact sheet, in English and Spanish, with important information about NLRB investigations for immigrant workers, which makes clear that immigration status is not relevant to whether there has been a violation of the NLRA, that information obtained during NLRB investigations is protected, and that the NLRB will consider, on a case-by-case basis, seeking protection for employees at worksites where it is necessary to safeguard employees exercising their labor rights or participating in NLRB processes.”