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Know This Now, October 9, 2026: Business Leaders Nationwide Join ABIC in Effort to Protect Salvadoran TPS Holders

By October 12, 2026No Comments

Business Leaders Nationwide Join ABIC in Effort to Protect Salvadoran TPS Holders
This victory – though not yet permanent – was hard fought and the result of strategic coalition building led by TPS Alliance and ABIC

A month after the official decision deadline, the Trump administration has yet to decide whether to extend or revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for roughly 2000,000 Salvadoran immigrants, the majority of whom have lived and worked in the U.S. for 25+ years, with a 90% labor participation.

ABIC brought together a broad coalition of business owners, faith leaders, labor and advocates together with our partners at the TPS Alliance to urge the Trump administration to end the uncertainty by extending the work permits for Salvadorans with TPS. This victory- though not yet permanent, was hard fought and the result of strategic coalition building led by TPS Alliance and ABIC.

Salvadoran TPS holders across the country remain protected and authorized to work, for now, but the daily uncertainty has left hundreds of thousands of families and employers struggling to plan their lives and business operations.

“To maintain America’s global economic leadership, our immigration policies must offer stability and clarity to the employers and industries that drive our progress,” wrote the coalition in a letter to President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, underscoring the economic stakes of stripping legal work authorization from people who have lived and worked in the United States for more than 25 years.

“We fully support a secure and orderly border to ensure public safety. We must also protect the economic foundation of our nation by stabilizing our existing, law-abiding workforce.”

The signatories include ABIC Board Chairman and former Arizona Republican state Sen. Bob Worsley, ABIC CEO Rebecca Shi, IBC Bank CEO Dennis Nixon, Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association President and CEO Carol Dover, Kansas Livestock Association CEO Matt Teagarden and Comité de 100 Co-chair Massey Villarreal. Small-business owners, chamber leaders, restaurateurs, farmers and employers from across the country also joined the appeal.

The signatories warn that ending TPS for El Salvador would compound ongoing labor shortages, raise recruitment and training costs and reduce productivity. For families, ending TPS for El Salvador would directly threaten the livelihoods of more than 150,000 U.S. citizen children who currently depend on their parents’ earnings.

The Los Angeles Times reported the uncertainty is particularly significant in Washington, D.C., where the construction industry relies heavily on Salvadoran TPS holders. 

Rebecca Shi, CEO of ABIC told the LAWhy hasn’t the Trump administration decided the fate of TPS for Salvadorans? – Los Angeles Times Times Salvadoran TPS workers are especially valuable because of the skills and experience they have built over decades in the construction industry, and that President Trump knows this personally because he’s been in the industry:

Roxy Mejia, political director of a local painters union, said contractors have pushed to preserve TPS because ending it would create a major labor shortage: “Even the contractors have lobbied with us to keep TPS extending, because they would lose a lot of manpower in this area.”

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Midterm Watch from Comite de 100

Polls Continue to Show Latino Voters Swinging Away from Trump and Republicans

A new NBC News/Telemundo poll finds that immigration enforcement is a major source of frustration among Latino voters, with two-thirds saying the Trump administration’s deportation policies have gone too far. The results mirror ABIC and AFU’s recent polling showing 75% of Latino voters in battleground states are more likely to support a candidate who backs work permits for long-term undocumented immigrants.

Overall, 69% of Latino voters in the new NBC/Telemundo poll disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration, and Democrats hold advantages over Republicans on the issue. The findings, based on a survey of 800 registered Latino voters conducted September 21–28, 2026, also show how concerns about deportations, family and the economy are shaping views of the administration ahead of the November midterms.


The impact of the current aggressive immigration policies is hitting close to home for many voters: 31% of Latino voters say they or someone close to them has started carrying identification because of concerns about ICE enforcement, 27% know someone detained or deported by ICE in the past two years, and 18% say they or someone close to them has considered leaving the U.S. because of ICE concerns.

Republican pollster Micah Roberts noted that while Latino voters support some immigration enforcement, “the Latino electorate believes it’s gone way too far.”

Politico Playbook also reported this week on Trump’s cracking Latino coalition highlighting Equis Research polling showing the share of Latino voters citing immigration overreach as a concern doubled from 10% in May to 20% in August. Among Latino voters who supported Trump in 2024, 42% now say they regret or are disappointed by their vote. Nationally, Trump’s approval among Latino voters stood at 31%, while 63% disapproved, according to Equis’ August poll.

Valencia warned that Democrats can’t take Latino voters’ support for granted: “Democrats can’t be afraid to talk about securing the border, but that can’t be the only policy.”

In the Bloomberg opinion piece ‘Latino Voters Are the New Swing Voters’ Mary Ellen Klas wrote, “If Democrats win control of Congress in November, it will be in large part because the Latino voters President Donald Trump captured in historic numbers in 2024 have abandoned him. And if Democrats don’t act decisively on two fronts — the economy and immigration — these voters will be up for grabs again in 2028.” ABIC and AFU’s recent polling was featured in the piece, as well as multiple leaders from the Comité de 100 coalition calling for protections for long-term immigrants.


GOP Senators Warn That Trump Has Fumbled Immigration Issue

Republican senators are increasingly warning that President Trump’s aggressive mass-deportation policies have become a political liability, reports The Hill, alienating suburban and Hispanic voters and overshadowing his administration’s success in reducing illegal border crossings by more than 90%.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said mass deportations send “the wrong message.”


Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) called the approach both “politically dumb” and “immoral,” warning: “I would rather have 100 illegally present people go free than have that innocent person caught.”

“Instead of taking that win … we’ve completely masked that enormous success of securing the border, by overreaching and going too aggressively” after mass deportations, Tillis said. 

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) also raised the possibility of a more humane approach for long-term residents who contribute to their communities.

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Agriculture Council Advocates for SAWA (Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act) to Address Farm Labor Crisis

Matt Teagarden, CEO of the Kansas Livestock Association and chair of the American Business Immigration Coalition’s Ag Council told Oklahoma Farm Report SAWA is critical to addressing America’s farm labor crisis and protecting the nation’s food supply. The legislation, introduced by House Agriculture Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson, would modernize the H-2A guest worker program to include year-round jobs and create a pathway for existing agricultural workers to obtain legal work authorization after vetting.

“What I would call the biggest problem in agriculture today, and that is the workforce needs and the inability to secure the workforce that we need in agriculture,” Teagarden said.

Teagarden emphasized that livestock operations, including feedyards, dairies and ranches, require workers year-round, not just seasonally.

“Multiple ag segments across the country have been very supportive—nearly unanimous support for this bill,” Teagarden noted.

Without reform, he cautioned, labor shortages could drive up grocery prices, increase reliance on imported food and disrupt families, businesses and rural communities. Recent immigration enforcement in southwest Kansas, he added, has already caused workers to stay home out of fear, contributing to lost wages, operational disruptions and beef processing delays.
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DACA Renewal Applicants Continue to Face Record Delays

Between September 2025 and June 30 of this year, the backlog of pending renewal applications has more than quadrupled for DACA to over 125,000. The delays have caused stress, uncertainty and in some cases losses of wages or jobs.

“You feel like you don’t have agency, like nothing that you do is good enough because it’s outside of your control,” said Juan Carlos Cerda, whose DACA renewal application took six months to process, causing him to take unpaid leave from his role as the Texas director for the American Business Immigration Coalition. “I had to pull back on spending and had to cut bills, things that were not necessary in order to make ends meet.”

The slowdown in processing is not unique to DACA. USCIS reports show that the backlog of work authorization applications for noncitizens across the board has increased by 60% from December 2024 to August 2026. 

Get Involved

  1. Join one of ABIC’s Councils of 100 and let your voice be heard with your peers – sign up here. The Council of 100 is a coalition of top business leaders working to advance common-sense workforce solutions.
  2. Share your story: If your business is interested in engaging with the press as part of ABIC or amplifying your story on social media, take this quick survey to let us know your preferences. 
  3. Work with us: ABIC is hiring! We are looking for a California State Director and Digital Manager to join our growing team. Learn more.

Always available: ABIC Employer Resources Folder

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