A group of Chilean workers in Florida, USA, have said they uprooted their families and moved to Pensacola for work, only to be fired from their jobs after one year at a subsidiary of ST Engineering, VT MAE. Several workers said they would not have accepted the work and move if they had known they would only have work for one year.

A spokesperson for VT MAE has called the issue one for government and said they had to follow government rules after the workers' visas expired; the company disputed the use of the term "layoff", saying instead that work authorisations for foreign workers are limited in duration. VT MAE also said it was providing "goodwill financial support and travel costs during the alternate work authorization process for those who want to potentially return to the company".

The founder of the Hispanic Resource Center, Grace Resendez McCaffery, said she would like to see severance pay for the workers and for hiring through a contract company.