DHS Plans to Restrict Work Authorization for Asylum Seekers (2)

A Trump administration proposal released Friday would curtail work eligibility for immigrant asylum seekers.

Draft regulations (RIN 1615-AC97) from US Citizenship and Immigration Services would pause acceptance of work permit applications when average processing times for affirmative asylum claims are more than 180 days. They would also extend the waiting period for asylum seekers to apply for work permits to 365 days.

Current rules require asylum seekers to wait 150 days to apply for a work permit. They’re eligible for employment authorization when their asylum claim has been pending 180 days.

The proposal comes amid broader Trump efforts to terminate or restrict humanitarian benefits for immigrants in the US. The Department of Homeland Security has sought to end relief like Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands. And the agency in October issued regulations ending automatic extension of work permits for immigrants with backlogged renewal requests.

The new proposed restrictions on asylum seekers’ employment authorization would put further pressure on the ability of immigrants to support themselves and their families while seeking protection in the US.

DHS said the proposal rule would lessen the incentive to file fraudulent asylum claims to obtain work eligibility, and reduce a backlog of 1.4 million pending asylum claims, a department spokesperson said.

The rule revives a proposal from the first Trump administration in 2020 to increase the work permit waiting period to a full year, although the pause on new applications based on asylum processing times makes the new regulation even more restrictive.

“This regulation is an attempt to force millions of asylum seekers out of their jobs, even though they have been living and working in the U.S. legally – in some cases for over a decade,” said Conchita Cruz, co-executive director of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project.

Cruz said members of the public should use a 60-day public comment period on the rule to explain the “devastating impact” it would have on families, employers, and the US economy.