Walmart Forced to Rely on Elderly Staff After Court Ruling Strips Stores of Migrant Workers

A court decision has sent shockwaves through Walmart, leaving the retail giant scrambling to fill a significant labour gap.

With a ruling that has removed many migrant workers from its stores, the company now finds itself increasingly dependent on an unexpected demographic: its older employees.

Employees at Walmart are reporting a sudden loss of co-workers. The retailer, which is America's largest private employer, is adhering to a broad Supreme Court decision.

This ruling allowed the Trump administration to remove work safeguards for half a million migrant employees.

The Immediate Impact on Walmart

According to Walmart employees, the company is making quick staffing adjustments in stores. They are now worried that there won't be enough people to handle the workload. A Redditor, posting in a discussion about Walmart, queried, 'Anyone else just lose a bunch of employees to Trump policy?'

They then shared, '[My store] just lost 10 employees who were here on work visa.' One person reported their store, with 400 workers, lost 40 staff, meaning a tenth of their workforce was gone. As a result, they said, the workers still there are rushing to maintain the store's function.

A few remarked that their stores are now looking to elderly workers to cover the shortfall. 'Most of our older floor associates are constantly asking for help,' another added. 'It's not really ideal.'

Broader Consumer and Economic Effects

Speaking to DailyMail.com, retail experts suggested that any consumer impact at these stores would be temporary and confined to certain regions. ''This is just the latest curveball for Walmart,' one expert remarked.

'After navigating inflation, potential tariffs, and economic uncertainty, they've become experts at adaptation. The impact won't be uniform. States closer to the border will feel this more acutely than stores in the heartland.'

The Policy Shift Behind the Cuts

Walmart's reported staff reductions are happening after President Donald Trump abruptly ended a parole programme from the Biden era. This programme, known as CHNV, was established by Biden in January 2023 and offered temporary protection from deportation to over 534,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela until the close of 2025.

Work permits were granted through the programme, giving recipients the legal right to employment in the US. Officials had even informed their employers that these visas would need to be renewed by the end of this year.

However, in late May, the Supreme Court approved the Trump administration's emergency plea to quickly abolish the Biden-era initiative, creating significant instability for workers and the businesses that employed them.

Legal and Compliance Challenges for Employers

The impact on employees is already evident across Walmart's branches. Bloomberg earlier reported that the company has directed its store managers — particularly those in Florida and Texas — to begin identifying workers whose work permits might have been suddenly withdrawn.

The outlet's review of internal documents shows that staff who are impacted need to verify their right to work again immediately. Loren Locke, an immigration attorney based in Georgia, states that the legal landscape is highly complex and presents serious hazards for major employers.

'Employers like Walmart have no choice but to stop employing workers who lack US work authorisation,' she told DailyMail.com. 'But it is tricky to comply when they have a large number of current employees whose work permits are getting cancelled prematurely.'

The Systemic Problem and Future Outlook

The Department of Homeland Security hasn't directly informed employers about workers losing status; instead, a federal filing indicates that employers have 'constructive knowledge' if they continue employing migrants under the cancelled Biden-era CHNV programme, thereby shifting legal responsibility.

This creates a complex, high-risk situation, as corporate systems aren't designed to flag such sudden terminations, and CHNV visas share categories with other, still-valid programmes, making it almost impossible to identify affected staff.

While complying to avoid Trump administration penalties is crucial, questioning visa status could invite discrimination lawsuits, termed an 'immediate compliance crisis' by attorney Loren Locke.

Walmart and Disney are proactively reviewing work authorisations, yet Jamie E Wright, a trial attorney in Los Angeles, highlights how outdated tech leaves visa-holding employees, who've done everything correctly, as 'collateral damage', urging more intelligent systems that track renewals and support workers with respect, calling it both ethical and better business.