DHS launches “national campaign” to get some migrants work permits as New York pleads for help
The Department of Homeland Security says it will launch a “national campaign” to help able-bodied migrants get work permits, while Democratic politicians urge the government to extend work permits to migrants.
DHS had dispatched a team of experts to assess migrant operations in New York City, where officials said services were overwhelmed with the approximately 100,000 migrants who have arrived in the “refuge city” since last year. The DHS team recommended improvements to migration processes and additional locations to house migrants.
The agency confirmed to Fox that it is now launching a “first-of-its-kind national campaign for non-citizens who are eligible to work but have not yet applied for a work permit.”
DHS calls for improvements in New York migrant crisis response as Adams hits back
DHS Secretary Mayorkas recently sent a team of experts to New York City to assess the operation. ((Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images))
“DHS looks forward to continuing this effort with state and local officials, in coordination with our federal partners, to humanely and orderly address the needs of migrants who have arrived in New York and other cities across the country,” he said said a spokesman.
Migrants entering the United States illegally are generally not allowed to work. However, if they apply for asylum, they are finally able to work after a few months. Migrants who are released to the US on parole — for example, through the CBP One app at a port of entry — can also apply for a work permit for the duration of their parole.
However, illegal immigrants who have not applied for asylum or whose waiting period has not expired are not allowed to work, which has become a flashpoint for state politicians who are overwhelmed by the number they are faced with, even though they represent only a fraction those encountered on the southern border.
Officials in New York, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, have criticized the government for not doing enough to help them with their migration problems. They have called for a federal declaration of a state of emergency and for the administration to do more to get work permits for the tens of thousands of migrants in the city.
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“We need people who have the right to work, which is an American tradition. We need a declaration of emergency. We need locations to deal with the congestion immediately and we need funding. So if you look at an analysis that was presented, it didn’t answer any of those preventions… that’s the intervention you saw. How can we stop this flow?” Adams said at a recent press conference.
While it’s not clear what the national DHS campaign will entail, Hochul told Local media said DHS employees would make themselves available “so that we can begin processing thousands of people so they can submit an application.” [for] Apply for asylum legally.
“One way to deal with this is to make them work, which has been my call to action,” Hochul told Spectrum News.
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CBS News reported that the agency will also broadcast emails and texts to migrants who have been paroled or have pending asylum applications to the United States through the CBP One app and other probation program for certain nationalities, reminding them to apply for a work permit.
Similar demands for a work permit have been made by other Democrats, including Massachusetts Governor Maura Healeywhere she also declared a state of emergency last month.
GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK. KATHY HOCHUL slams Mayor Adams’ response to migrants in a 12-page letter
New York City’s Democratic Mayor Eric Adams has criticized the administration for its handling of the refugee crisis. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, there is little sign that the chaos on the southern border that has plagued the crisis for over two years is about to end. After a brief dip in June, the number of migrant encounters rose to about 180,000 in July. Fox has reported that Border Patrol sectors have reached or exceeded capacity. The Washington Post reported Friday that early August numbers show there have been over 230,000 matches.
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The Biden administration has urged Congress to allocate billions of additional billions to help manage borders while pushing for a comprehensive immigration reform plan that provides a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.
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Instead, Republicans have passed their own border security bill, while calling for increased security measures and the restoration of Trump-era policies reversed by the Biden administration — about-faces they say started the crisis in the first place.