With the number of illegal border crossings remaining at an unsustainable level and the nation’s unemployment rate beginning to tick upward, the Biden administration is reacting not by improving border security or ramping up immigration law enforcement but by making it easier for undocumented immigrants to find a job in the United States.
According to recent reports, the Department of Homeland Security has implemented a new policy that allows migrants who utilize the CBP One app to immediately apply for documentation that gives them legal employment status. Those who do not use the app will be required to wait 150 days after claiming asylum to apply for a work permit and another 30 days to receive their documentation.
NEW: DHS says it is launching a "first-of-its-kind national campaign for noncitizens who are work-eligible but have not yet applied for employment authorization."https://t.co/gEvXSB7jvJ
— Adam Shaw (@AdamShawNY) September 1, 2023
As of last month, more than 188,500 migrants had arranged to enter the country across the U.S.-Mexico border via the app. The latest reports available indicate that about 16% of migrants who have taken this step went on to apply for a work permit.
Lora Ries, who previously served as DHS acting deputy chief of staff, explained why the agency’s current policy will likely encourage even more immigrants to illegally cross the border.
“That’s all that these aliens want is work authorization,” she said. “They don’t care about getting asylum protection. They don’t care about getting some other document. I will say illegal aliens want five things: they want to enter the U.S., they want to stay here, they want to work here, they want to send money home and they want to bring family here. And this administration is letting them enter, letting them stay and letting them work.”
The Biden administration is not alone in pushing for less stringent work restrictions for migrants.
As New York City struggles to find shelter for the tens of thousands of migrants who have entered the city over the past year, both Democratic Mayor Eric Adams and Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul have pushed for policies making it easier for them to find jobs.
Ries noted that the responses being proposed by Adams and Hochul are also likely to backfire.
“And so as the mayor and the governor of New York complain about the numbers that they are facing when they demand faster work authorization, it just encourages more illegal immigration,” she said.
