Nevada counts roughly 5,800 TPS beneficiaries who are mostly Salvadoran nationals, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto used a press event this month with Culinary Union leaders to press for a one- to two-year extension, saying Salvadoran TPS holders "work in nearly every hotel on the Strip."

One of those workers, a Las Vegas bartender who asked to be identified only as Jose out of fear of being targeted for removal, told a reporter that after 25 years in the country, "I don't see a future anywhere else," even as he waits on a human-resources letter he has no documents to answer.