Nearly 50 Venezuelan employees with temporary protected status have been placed on leave by Disney after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to remove their legal protection.
Disney said on Friday that this action was taken to make sure the workers were not breaking any laws.
All 45 affected employees across the company will still receive their benefits.
“We are committed to protecting the health, safety, and well-being of all our employees who may be navigating changing immigration policies and how they could impact them or their families,” the statement said.
Around two-thirds of these employees held union jobs. The union contract for Walt Disney World service workers in Florida says that these workers can return to their jobs without losing seniority or benefits if they show valid work papers within one year of being let go, said Julee Jerkovich, secretary-treasurer of the United Food And Commercial Workers International Union’s Local 1625.
“It’s very distressing,” Jerkovich said Friday. “Disney is being made to be the bad guy, but they didn’t have any choice.”
She said that if Disney hadn’t acted, it could have faced criticism or even immigration raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at Disney World.
Walt Disney World ResortOn Monday, the Supreme Court blocked a ruling from a federal judge in San Francisco that would have kept Temporary Protected Status in place for Venezuelans. That protection would have expired last month. The justices did not explain their decision, which is common in emergency legal matters.
This decision could put as many as 350,000 Venezuelans at risk of being deported. Temporary Protected Status allows people from certain countries to stay and work in the U.S. if their home countries are unsafe due to disasters or conflict.
This case is one of several emergency immigration-related appeals the Trump administration has brought to the Supreme Court. Earlier this month, the government asked the court to let it end humanitarian parole for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, which could lead to more deportations.
“These workers — our colleagues, friends, and neighbors — have contributed immensely to the success of the Walt Disney Company and to the vibrant culture of central Florida,” a coalition of unions at Disney World said in a statement. “No worker should have to live in fear of losing everything after building a life here.”
