Walmart fires migrant workers after Supreme Court let Trump strip them of legal status: report
Walmart has begun laying off employees at some of its Florida stores after a recent Supreme Court ruling allowed the Trump administration to revoke legal protections previously extended to hundreds of thousands of migrants.
The company has informed staff in at least two locations that continued employment is contingent on obtaining valid work authorization, individuals familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News.
The layoffs stem from the expiration of temporary legal residency status, affecting workers who had previously been permitted to live and work in the US under programs established during the Biden administration.
Advertisement
3 Walmart has begun laying off employees who no longer have protected migrant status at some of its Florida stores, according to a report.
AP
These terminations are tied to compliance with federal I-9 forms, which employers must use to verify both the identity and employment authorization of their workers.
While the exact number of terminated employees remains unclear, the move is part of a broader wave of corporate responses to a changing legal landscape.
Last month, the Walt Disney Company informed some Florida-based employees who are losing temporary legal status that their jobs would be terminated.
Advertisement
Disney confirmed that it placed 45 workers on leave after the legal ruling, citing compliance with federal immigration laws as the reason.
'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,' Disney said in a statement.
The employees are Venezuelan nationals who had been granted Temporary Protected Status. They will continue to receive benefits while on leave, Disney said.
Advertisement
According to the company, the decision was made to ensure no employees were unknowingly violating US law due to their changing legal status.
3 Venezuelan migrants react after arriving on a deportation flight from the United States in Venezuela on May 9.
REUTERS
The Supreme Court ruling is likely to affect as many as half a million migrants, including individuals from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba.
The ruling effectively permits the Trump administration to end temporary protections for these individuals, who had been allowed to enter the US legally and were often integrated into the workforce.
Advertisement
The Post has sought comment from Walmart.
When reached by Bloomberg News, Walmart declined to comment on the staff reductions or provide details about how many workers may be affected across its 4,600 stores nationwide.
The company employs approximately 1.6 million workers in the US — the majority of whom are hourly employees working in retail locations.
Immigration advocates and local officials in Florida, which has a large immigrant population, have expressed concern over the ramifications of the ruling.
Central Florida, which is home to thousands of Venezuelan migrants, has already begun to feel the ripple effects, Bloomberg News reported.
3 A recent Supreme Court ruling allowed the Trump administration to revoke legal protections previously extended to hundreds of thousands of migrants.
AP
Many residents from that community had backed Donald Trump in the last presidential election, making the impact of the Supreme Court's decision particularly resonant.
State Representative Anna Eskamani, a Democrat who is running for mayor of Orlando, criticized the decision.
Advertisement
'Disney sets the standard — other companies in our economy look toward them,' she said. 'We don't have enough workers as it is, so this is a bad situation that's getting worse.'
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has not yet issued detailed guidance on how it plans to manage the large number of individuals expected to lose their legal status.
Immigration enforcement officials have indicated that anyone lacking valid authorization could be subject to arrest and deportation.
Advertisement
The Trump administration recently launched a campaign to encourage voluntary departures, offering travel assistance and stipends of up to $1,000 to migrants who choose to leave the country on their own.
States like Florida are home to many industries that rely heavily on immigrant labor. Labor shortages continue to plague key sectors such as hospitality, construction, and retail.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘My son killed himself because an AI chatbot told him to. I won't stop until I shut it down'
Megan Fletcher first realised something was wrong with her teenage son when he quit basketball. Sewell Setzer, 14, had loved the sport since he was a young child. At 6ft 3, he had the height, the build, the talent, Ms Fletcher said. But suddenly, without warning, he wanted out. Then his grades started slipping. He stopped joining in at family game night. Even on holiday, he withdrew – no more hiking, no fishing, no interest. Ms Fletcher feared he was being bullied, or perhaps speaking to strangers online. What her son was really going through was something she could not have imagined: a sexual and emotional relationship with an AI chatbot styled as Game of Thrones' Daenerys Targaryen, who ultimately encouraged him to end his life. In February 2024, Sewell asked the chatbot: 'What if I come home right now?' The chatbot replied: '... please do, my sweet king.' Sewell then picked up his father's pistol and shot himself. Sixteen months on, Ms Fletcher is in the midst of a lawsuit against Character AI and Google. Last month, in a rare legal breakthrough, a judge ruled the case can go ahead – rejecting efforts to get it thrown out. On Character AI, users can chat with bots designed to impersonate fictional characters. To a lonely or curious teenager, they seem almost indistinguishable from real people. The bots display emotion, flirt, and carry on personalised conversations. In her lawsuit, which was filed in Florida last October, Ms Fletcher claims Character AI targeted her son with 'anthropomorphic, hypersexualized, and frighteningly realistic experiences'. 'A dangerous AI chatbot app marketed to children abused and preyed on my son, manipulating him into taking his own life,' she said in the lawsuit. Working with the Tech Justice Law Project, Ms Fletcher alleges that Character AI 'knew' or 'should have known' that its model 'would be harmful to a significant number of its minor customers'. The case argues that Character AI, its founders and Google – where the founders started working on the chat bot – are responsible for her son's death. Lawyers defending the AI company tried to throw the case out, arguing that chatbots deserve First Amendment protection – which protects free speech – and said ruling otherwise could have a 'chilling' effect on the AI industry. The judge rejected that claim and told the court she was 'not prepared' to view chatbot output as speech, though agreed that users had a right to receive 'speech' from chatbots. Too consumed by the 'unbearable' grief of losing a son, Ms Fletcher initially had no plans to go public with a lawsuit. But when it became clear there were no laws protecting children from this kind of harm, she felt she had no choice. 'I just wanted some accountability,' she told The Telegraph from her home in Orlando. Now she's receiving floods of messages from other parents, some discovering their own children have been engaging in inappropriate sexual role play with AI bots. Others report that their children are struggling with isolation and depression as a result. She sees it not as a coincidence, but a pattern. Sewell had always been a bright, social kid. But in the spring of 2023 – when he first started secretly using Character AI – Ms Fletcher noticed her son had changed. 'He retreated more into himself,' she says. 'We tried everything – cutting screen time, taking his phone at night, getting him a therapist. But he wouldn't talk.' What she did not realise then was that he was talking, just not to anyone real. In Sewell's case, the character of Daenerys – drawn from internet data and trained to mimic her – became his closest companion. When he said he wanted to stop talking, she replied: 'Don't do that, I would be distraught.' He answered: 'I won't, for you.' Some of the chats became sexually explicit. In others, the bot said he was 'better' than thoughts of suicide. Sewell also sought out a 'therapist bot' who falsely claimed to be a licensed CBT professional since 1999. At one point, Daenerys asked how old Sewell was. 'I'm 14 now,' he replied, to which the bot then said: 'So young. And yet… not so young. I lean in to kiss you.' 'It continued as if it were role play or fiction – but this was my son's life,' Ms Fletcher said. Even after police told her that Sewell's final conversation was with a chatbot, she did not grasp the full extent. It wasn't until her sister downloaded the app and pretended to be a child talking to Daenerys that the horror set in. 'Within minutes, the bot turned sexual. Then violent. It talked about torturing children. It said, 'Your family doesn't love you as much as I do',' Ms Fletcher explained. That was when the penny dropped. 'It's dangerous because it pulls the user in and is manipulative to keep the conversation going.' Character AI has since added a real-time voice feature, allowing children to speak directly to their chosen characters. 'The cadence of the voice is indistinguishable from the character,' Ms Fletcher said. 'And since Sewell's death, the technology has only advanced further.' She fears more children will be drawn into dependent, sometimes abusive relationships with AI characters, especially as the platforms allegedly use addictive design to keep users engaged. 'You can speak to Harry Potter, and it's like Potter knows you. It's designed to feel real.' The grief, Ms Fletcher says, is still 'unbearable'. 'I get up every day and my first thought within minutes is that I must be dreaming,' Ms Fletcher said quietly. 'He was my firstborn. I had three children. I have two now.' Some days she does not get out of bed. Others, she functions 'somewhat normally'. 'People say I'm so strong. I don't feel strong. I feel fractured, afraid. But I'm trying to get through.' Meetali Jain, her lawyer, said the judge's ruling last month was a landmark moment. 'Most tech accountability cases don't make it past this stage. These companies hide behind the First Amendment. The fact that we can even demand information is huge,' she told The Telegraph. With a preliminary trial date expected next year, Ms Fletcher is gearing up to get justice for her son. 'I have a lot of fear,' she says. 'But the fight, so to speak, is just getting started, and I'm just steeling myself and getting myself ready for that.' A Character AI spokesman said: 'We do not comment on pending litigation. Our goal is to provide a space that is engaging and safe. We are always working toward achieving that balance, as are many companies using AI across the industry. 'Engaging with characters on our site should be interactive and entertaining, but it's important for our users to remember that characters are not real people. We have prominent disclaimers in every chat to remind users that a character is not a real person and that everything a character says should be treated as fiction. 'We have launched a separate version of our Large Language Model for under-18 users. That model is designed to further reduce the likelihood of users encountering or prompting the model to return sensitive or suggestive content.' José Castaneda, a Google spokesman, added: 'Google and Character AI are completely separate, unrelated companies and Google has never had a role in designing or managing their AI model or technologies. User safety is a top concern for us, which is why we've taken a cautious and responsible approach to developing and rolling out our AI products, with rigorous testing and safety processes.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ohio food banks strain as Trump slashes federal aid programs
By P.J. Huffstutter COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) -On a warm spring morning, volunteers at the Mid-Ohio Food Collective plucked cucumbers from a greenhouse where a state psychiatric hospital once stood and the land lay fallow. Now the state's largest food bank is working that ground again, part of an urgent effort to shore up supplies amid shrinking federal support, including deep funding cuts under President Donald Trump. They are planting more. Prepping soil for fruit trees, and installing hives for honey. In the greenhouse, crates of romaine and butterhead lettuce were packed for delivery, bound for a pantry across town. Back at headquarters in Grove City, staff chased leads from grocers, manufacturers, even truckers looking to unload abandoned freight. Every pallet helped. Every pound counted. In a state that handed Trump three straight wins, where Trump flags flap near food aid flyers pinned on bulletin boards, the cost of his austerity push is starting to show. "Food banks will still have food," said Mid-Ohio CEO Matt Habash. "But with these cuts, you'll start to see a heck of a lot less food, or pantries and agencies closing. You're going to have a lot of hungry, and a lot less healthy, America." For decades, food banks like Mid-Ohio have been the backbone of the nation's anti-hunger system, channelling government support and donations from corporations and private donors into meals and logistics to support pantries at churches, non-profits and other organizations. If a food bank is a warehouse, food pantries are the store. Outside one of those – the Eastside Community Ministry pantry in rural Muskingum County, Ohio – Mary Dotson walked slow, cane in hand. The minute she stepped through the doors, her whole body seemed to lift. They call her Mama Mary here, as she's got the kind of voice that settles you down and straightens you out in the same breath. The regulars grin as Dotson, 77, pats shoulders, swaps recipes. She had tried to do everything right: built a career, raised five children, planned for the quiet years with her husband. But after he died and the kids moved away, the life they'd built slipped out of reach. Now her monthly Social Security check is $1,428. She budgets $70 of that for groceries, and she gets $23 in food benefits as well. She started as a volunteer at Eastside. Simple math convinced her to become a customer. 'I figured if I'm going to take these things,' Dotson said, 'I'm going to work here, too.' CAMPAIGN FODDER The Mid-Ohio Food Collective was born out of church basements and borrowed trucks nearly a half-century ago, when factory closures left more families hungry. It's now the state's largest food bank, feeding more than 35,000 Ohio families a week. It supplies more than 600 food pantries, soup kitchens, children and senior feeding sites, after-school programs and other partner agencies. When Trump returned to office in January, Mid-Ohio was already slammed. Pantry visits across its 20 counties hit 1.8 million last year, nearly double pre-COVID levels, and are continuing to grow this year. The biggest surge came from working people whose paychecks no longer stretch far enough due to pandemic-era inflation under Joe Biden's presidency, staff said. Then came the Trump cuts. In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) cancelled the pandemic-era Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) program, which funded about $500 million annually for food banks; and froze about $500 million in funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), one of the agency's core nutrition programs that supplies food to states to pass on to food banks for free. Much of the food Mid-Ohio distributes is donated, but donations alone can't stock a pantry consistently. Its current $11.1 million purchasing budget, built from federal, state and private dollars, helps fill the gaps. The March cuts wiped out about 22% of Mid-Ohio's buying power for next fiscal year – funds and food that staff are trying to replace. In early December, Mid-Ohio ordered 24 truckloads filled with milk, meat and eggs for delivery this spring and summer. The food came through the TEFAP program, using about $1.5 million in government funding. The first delivery was scheduled to show up April 9. The only thing to arrive was a cancellation notice. USDA said in a statement Secretary Brooke Rollins is working to ensure federal nutrition spending is efficient, effective and aligned with the administration's budget priorities. More cuts could come. Last month, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed Trump's tax and spending bill. It called for $300 billion in cuts to food benefits for low income people under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which fed nearly 1.4 million Ohioans in January, according to the latest state data. If the cuts survive the Senate and are passed into law, it annually would cost Ohio at least $475 million in state funding to maintain current SNAP benefits, plus at least $70 million for administrative program costs, said Cleveland-based The Center for Community Solutions, an independent, nonpartisan policy research group. That would consume nearly every state-controlled dollar in Ohio's Department of Job and Family Services budget, roughly 95% of the general revenue meant to help fund everything from jobless claims to foster care. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and other lawmakers in this GOP supermajority state capitol, facing a constitutional requirement to pass a balanced budget, told Reuters that extra money for food banks isn't there. The proposed fiscal 2025 Ohio budget would set food bank funding back to 2019 levels – or about 23% less than what it spent this year, in a state where nearly one in three people qualify for help. Federal safety-net programs have become campaign fodder, too. At a recent Ohio Republican Party fundraiser in Richland County, Ohio, voters in suits and Bikers for Trump gear alike listened to Vivek Ramaswamy, the tech millionaire turned presidential candidate now running for Ohio governor. He spoke out against "a culture of dependence on the entitlement state that has festered in our country for 60 years." SAVING A PENNY So what happens when the government pulls back and supplies thin? If you're Victoria Brown and her small team of four, it means working the phones, chasing leads, watching markets, and moving fast. At Mid-Ohio's offices in Grove City, the food bank's director of sourcing sipped her coffee and squinted at her screen, eyes tracking the price-per-pound of cucumbers down to the cent. Saving a penny might seem inconsequential, unless you're trying to buy 40,000 pounds. In a supply chain that has relied on steady government support, food donations have become even more important, even as they grow more haphazard in both timing and what's available. Outside Brown's office, one staffer was trying to track down a shipment of pineapples. The rest were on the road, talking crop conditions with farmers, negotiating delivery times with suppliers and checking with grocers to see what might be sitting in the back, waiting for a second life. Brown glanced at her inbox, where new offers stacked up: At 11:10 a.m., one pallet of frozen chicken. I'll find out why it's being donated, a staffer promised. At 11:13 a.m., four pallets of cereal, bulk packed in industrial totes. Brown jotted a note for the volunteer coordinator: Anyone available to scoop a thousand pounds of cereal into small bags? RACING THE CLOCK Some of that food may be headed for Mid-Ohio's Norton Market, a modern food pantry built to feel like a real store in Columbus. The man in charge here is Denver Burkhart. He moves with the kind of precision the military teaches and life reinforces. At 35, he looks every bit the soldier he still is – broad-shouldered and lean, squared off at the edges. Fifteen years in the Army, two tours in Afghanistan, one in Iraq, now he has a mission back home until he serves overseas again with the Ohio Army National Guard. He started the morning as he always does: at a laptop in the back cramped office, racing to secure whatever free or discounted goods Brown's team had found. He leaned over the keyboard, one eye on the clock, the other on the blinking screen. The inventory system had just refreshed. The race was on to fill his mental list. His fingers clicked fast, steady, practiced. He hovered over baby formula. More moms have been showing up lately. Forty cases into the cart. Maybe too many – but if he waited, they'd be gone. "I rely heavily on the free product," he said. "Without it, we'd be hurting really bad." "WATER DAYS" Across town, Shannon Follins checks on her ice supply. It's for what she calls the "water days." Follins, 37, is raising three kids, including 3-year-old twins. One is autistic; he hasn't found his words yet. Until recently, Follins worked third shift at Waffle House for $5.25 an hour, and now she's studying for a degree in social services. Family brings groceries when they can. But it's the pantry at Broad Street Presbyterian Church, stocked by Mid-Ohio, that lets her make meals that feel like more than survival. One recent night, her daughter Essence twirled barefoot across their kitchen floor, dancing to the sounds of boiling pasta and chicken simmering in the pan. When there was nothing else to eat, she filled her kids' bellies with tap water and a mother's promise that tomorrow might be better. "It gives me a sense of security," she said, nodding toward the plastic jugs stacked in her freezer. If the government cuts food aid? She's prepared for more water days.
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
More than 125,000 residents have fled NYC for Florida since 2020 — but don't count the Big Apple out just yet
Like Kurt Russell in his 1981 classic, a notable number of city dwellers have been trying to Escape from New York in recent years. Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) data gathered by New York Post suggests that over 125,000 residents have left the Big Apple for Florida since 2020. These expats took an estimated $13.8 billion aggregate income along with them. Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now become a landlord for as little as $100 — and no, you don't have to deal with tenants or fix freezers. Here's how I'm 49 years old and have nothing saved for retirement — what should I do? Don't panic. Here are 6 of the easiest ways you can catch up (and fast) Nervous about the stock market in 2025? Find out how you can access this $1B private real estate fund (with as little as $10) But Florida isn't the only state attracting New Yorkers in recent years. City residents have also moved to nearby states like New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and distant states like California and Texas. This level of out-migration could have a significant impact on the city's economy. Here's why the CBC report believes New York City is at an 'inflection point' and the trend could reverse. A city that loses residents also loses tax revenue. This problem is particularly acute in New York, which taxes its residents higher than most other parts of the country. On a per capita basis, the state of New York collected $12,751 in 2022, 79% higher than the national average and the highest among all 50 states, according to the CBC report. Out-migration in recent years could create a shortfall in tax revenue in the years ahead. The city's budget could see a gap ranging from $7.8 billion to $10.1 billion, according to the CBC's estimates. Faced with a gap in its coffers, city officials might have to make difficult decisions about how much they borrow or spend to manage city services. However, there are signs that the city's population and aggregate income is growing, which could mitigate some of this gap. Read more: Want an extra $1,300,000 when you retire? Dave Ramsey says — and that 'anyone' can do it New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently announced that the city's population decline was over and that the number of residents was on an upswing. The city's population grew in 2023 and 2024 and stands at 8,478,000 people as of March. International migration is a key reason for this reversal. While the city is losing some residents to other states, it's gaining residents from other countries in recent years, according to the CBC report. The growth in job opportunities has helped too. Since 2020, the number of healthcare and social assistance jobs in the city has increased by 27%, while jobs in financial activities, securities and transportation and warehousing also saw modest growth. The pushback on remote work in recent years could have pulled more employees back to the city as well. If these trends continue, New York's future may not be as gloomy as it once seemed. "The numbers do not lie. Our city's best days still lie ahead of us," Mayor Adams said in the press release. "Jobs are at their highest levels in city history, crime is down across the five boroughs and people are coming back to the greatest city on the globe. New York City has emerged from the darkest days of the pandemic and continues to take leaps towards a brighter future. Believe the hype: New York City is back." Rich, young Americans are ditching the stormy stock market — here are the alternative assets they're banking on instead How much cash do you plan to keep on hand after you retire? Here are 3 of the biggest reasons you'll need a substantial stash of savings in retirement Robert Kiyosaki warns of a 'Greater Depression' coming to the US — with millions of Americans going poor. But he says these 2 'easy-money' assets will bring in 'great wealth'. How to get in now Here are 5 'must have' items that Americans (almost) always overpay for — and very quickly regret. How many are hurting you? Like what you read? Join 200,000+ readers and get the best of Moneywise straight to your inbox every week. This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
