Building Worker Power Through Deferred Action: A Report on the First Year

Executive Summary

In the year following the Biden administration’s landmark announcement on January 13, 2023, regarding labor-based deferred action, a significant shift has occurred in immigrants’ rights and workplace justice. This guidance, issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has empowered immigrant workers to engage in labor-related activities such as filing complaints and participating in investigations without the fear of deportation. As a result of this increased worker participation and solidarity, labor agencies have successfully enforced labor standards ranging from protections for fair wages to workplace safety to labor organizing.

The purpose of this report, to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the deferred action guidance is threefold. First, we celebrate the enormous impact the guidance has had by uplifting workers’ voices along with those of organizers and allies who shared how deferred action has made a meaningful difference in workplaces, lives, and communities. The report also includes several case studies that illustrate the success of the guidance in the enforcement of labor standards and how it has empowered workers to collectively push back against abusive and exploitative employers and corporations, many of which have outsized influence over the American economy and politics. Second, we report on the outcomes to date of the National Immigration Law Center’s (NILC’s) “Our Rights, Our Work, Our Home” two-year campaign to support the implementation of labor-based deferred action, which includes: training and technical assistance for advocates; co-creation of capacity-building models to maximize access; administrative advocacy with local, state, and federal agencies; direct legal representation; and a pilot project in partnership with 12 organizations with the goal of requesting deferred action for up to 100 workers nationwide.

As we celebrate the positive impacts of this guidance, we acknowledge that its implementation to date is only one piece in the broader struggle for worker justice. Exploitation remains pervasive in American workplaces for both immigrant and citizen workers alike. While this guidance offers incredible potential to safeguard immigrant workers and reform American workplaces, the full scope of that potential cannot be realized without a deeper investment of resources for education, organizing, and legal representation, coupled with ongoing partnerships between workers and the agencies charged with protecting and enforcing workplace standards.

Accordingly, this report offers recommendations for improving and expanding the effective implementation of the guidance and ensuring the continued success of this critical tool in advancing worker and immigrant rights.