(Radio Iowa) – Hundreds of workers at a J-B-S plant in Ottumwa were given 90 days to find new work authorizations after the Trump administration revoked their legal statuses. Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice spokesperson Elena Casillas-Hoffman says workers at other plants across the state are facing the same pressures.  “With the limited options that they have, what you’re going to see is that many individuals are going to be pushed to an undocumented status, potentially. So, you know, J-B-S in Ottumwa is one example of many, as more and more statuses are pulled and individuals are trying to find, what are their next steps?,” she says. Casillas-Hoffman says her organization has also heard of status terminations impacting workers in Marshalltown, Storm Lake and Sioux City.

“They’re now potentially going to face the idea that they and their families could become undocumented,” Casillas-Hoffman says. She says they’re trying to find new ways to legally remain in the country. “The increasing terror, the increasing surveillance and the increasing possibilities that come with being an undocumented person in the United States is a very real threat to many,” she says. The move affects Haitian, Venezuelan, Cuban and Nicaraguan immigrants who lived and worked in the United States under a special humanitarian parole program.

Individuals under humanitarian parole work in a variety of different fields, but Casillas-Hoffman says a large number work in meatpacking.