Trump’s Immigration Czar Targets Work Permits, Fee Increases

The leader of US Citizenship and Immigration Services outlined plans Thursday to curb work authorization for immigrants admitted through temporary humanitarian relief programs.

“You may be eligible for a work permit but that doesn’t mean anymore that that’s going to result in you being able to remain in this country,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said Thursday in an appearance at the National Press Club.

USCIS has forthcoming regulations to limit discretionary approval of work permits for immigrants claiming asylum or covered by programs like Temporary Protected Status, deferred action, and parole that the Trump administration has targeted amid its sweeping immigration agenda. Edlow was interviewed by Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for restrictive immigration policies.

Those rules were part of the latest regulatory agenda released by the Department of Homeland Security. USCIS has already stopped working with the Social Security Administration to streamline access to Social Security numbers for immigrants approved for employment authorization documents.

Edlow also said he’s “excited” to craft updated fees for work permits, green cards, and other benefits. Fees wills increase to recover the full cost of services, including a nominal fee for asylum claims, he said.

He criticized a Biden administration fee update issued last year for burdening employment-based applicants in favor of subsidizing asylum costs and family-based immigration immigration pathways.

“It showed what the Biden administration was focused on,” he said.

He said USCIS officers would be more empowered to apply tougher scrutiny to those seeking immigration benefits as part of a “war on fraud” at the agency.

Among Edlow’s congressional priorities are “tightening up” family-based categories, adding protections for religious workers, and ending the diversity visa program, he said. That program awards 55,000 green cards in a lottery each year to applicants from countries with low rates of US immigration.

“Ultimately, I’d like to see more merit-based immigration,” Edlow said.

Fraud Investigations

Edlow’s comments came after USCIS announced plans to hire new armed law enforcement officers to investigate and enforce immigration violations and fraud, assuming a role that’s traditionally been left to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The focus on fraud will mostly be prospective, he said, with the exception of denaturalization efforts that began under the first Trump administration. Edlow said there are no plans to re-launch an in-house unit at USCIS to pursue denaturalization, but the agency will assist the Department of Justice in pursuing those cases going forward.

USCIS is also providing several states access to a Department of Homeland Security database to assist them with checking voter rolls and verifying voter eligibility.

Edlow expected more discontent from career officers with the new direction at the agency but has found staff are happy with “being let out of the box and being told they no longer have to grant an application.”

“They know their business and we have to let them do their job,” he said. “Leadership over the last several years was unwilling to budge on these issues.”