Disney World Begins to Axe Venezuelan Cast Members After Trump’s SCOTUS Win
The dozens of affected Disney employees in Florida have one month to obtain work authorization—or be fired.
Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images
Disney suspended dozens of Venezuelan workers in Florida after the Supreme Court greenlit President Donald Trump’s effort to strip their legal status.
The company sent emails to workers affected by the top court’s decision, informing them that they would be placed on a 30-day unpaid leave, Bloomberg reported. Staff who don’t supply a work authorization by the end of that period will be fired.
In a two-paragraph ruling on Monday, the SCOTUS gave the Trump administration the go-ahead to cancel a Joe Biden-era extension to Venezuelan migrants’ Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The ruling leaves 350,000 migrants from the country at risk of expulsion from the United States.
Disney World is one of the largest employers in Florida.
Gary Hershorn/Getty Images
“As we sort out the complexities of this situation, we have placed affected employees on leave with benefits to ensure they are not in violation of the law,” a Disney spokesperson told the Daily Beast. “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 company told the Beast that 45 cast members—which is what it calls its theme park employees—at the Walt Disney World Resort would be affected by the decision.
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Disney World is one of the largest employers in Florida, with a staff of around 82,000. There are 225,000 Venezuelans with TPS in Florida.
At least one Venezuelan Disney employee with TPS was turned away when he showed up for work Tuesday, according to Bloomberg.
Trump has sought to roll back temporary protections for Venezuelan migrants.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Monday’s Supreme Court decision overruled a lower court’s decision to block to the Trump administration from cancelling Biden’s extension. However, it did not rule on the legal merit of the cancelation.
Temporary protected status is given to migrants from countries afflicted by war, political upheaval, or natural disaster, allowing them to live and work in America.
In the last days of his presidency, Biden had extended TPS for 350,000 Venezuelans that had been set to expire in April 2025 by 18 months, to Oct. 2026.
Biden had extended the temporary protection for some 350,000 migrants days before leaving office.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Trump’s administration quickly sought to roll back this decision upon entering office as part of his immigration crackdown.
Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, celebrated the Supreme Court’s ruling. She told NPR that it was “a win for the American people and the safety of our communities.”
In total, there are 600,000 Venezuelans with TPS in the U.S. The SCOTUS ruling does not affect 250,000 of these migrants, who are a separate group from the 350,000 who received an extension from Biden.
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