People with work permits have been arrested in Louisiana and are now fighting their immigration case from detention.
NEW ORLEANS — Vilma Palacios has been held at the Basile, Louisiana detention center since June, even though she says she was in the process of renewing her work permit.
“I told him ‘why am I under arrest? I didn’t do anything wrong, I have my ID’ and he was like ‘because your case has been terminated’ and I said ‘my case wasn’t terminated, it’s still open,” Palacios told us over the phone from the detention center, recounting the day of her arrest.
“I have a lawyer and no one has made me aware of the situation if it was terminated or closed’.”
Palacios has lived in Louisiana since she was young. She graduated from LSU’s nursing program and secured a job at Touro Infirmary, which she was set to start soon. Those plans were put on hold when she was detained by federal authorities June 26, just nine days after she passed her registered nurse certification exam.
“I had already sent an application to renew my work permit and it was still in the process,” she said.
Her case highlights a common misunderstanding about immigration work permits — what they allow someone to do, and what they do not.
A work permit, officially called an Employment Authorization Document (EAD), allows a person who is not a U.S. citizen to legally work in the United States while their immigration case is pending.
Immigration attorney Mercedes Deloach says the key point many people don’t realize is that a work permit is not a legal immigration status.
“It’s not a legal status, it’s a permit to work while your asylum [or other immigration case] is pending with the immigration court or with USCIS,” Deloach said. “A work permit doesn’t stop a detention from happening.”
Many people with work permits are asylum seekers and are waiting for the government to make a decision on their case.
Because asylum cases can take years to resolve, work permits are meant to allow people to support themselves during that waiting period.
While a work permit allows someone to obtain a Social Security number, work legally, pay taxes and more, it does not grant you legal immigration status, protect you from detention or guarantee protection from deportation proceedings.
“These are applications currently pending, nothing is approved yet,” Deloach said. “So while everything is pending, yes, they have a work permit, in some cases, to be able to work,” she said.
“However, until it is approved, and until they have their green card, then it’s basically in the air, because some may get denied, some may have a criminal history, some things may happen where they may not qualify, which, unfortunately, that puts people in an unfortunate situation where then they could basically get detained,” Deloach explained.
Deloach says obtaining a work permit is not quick or easy. She says it can take months before you’re even allowed to apply.
“People think coming into the United States at the border, they can quickly apply for a work permit. For example, in the case of asylum, [you have to] wait a period of 150 days to be able to apply for a work permit. And USCIS will not review your work permit until you’re at 180 days. So we’re looking at a minimum of six months before you even get granted a work permit,” Deloach said.
The application also requires applicants to disclose any criminal history.
Palacios says her previous work permit expired in March 2024. She attempted to renew it in 2023 but waited nearly a year for a response. During that time, she says there was confusion about her case status, and someone mistakenly believed it had been terminated.
She submitted another application and received confirmation in January 2025 that it had been received, but before it could be resolved, she was detained.
Work permits are designed to let people work legally while navigating a complex immigration system. But as cases like Palacios’ show, having — or renewing — a work permit does not guarantee security or protection from detention.
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