The Biden administration’s sensible new policy for asylum seekers — requiring them to submit applications in Latin American countries before arriving — seems to have preempted a wave of migration to the border, at least for now. But what about those the US has already legally admitted into the country, who are being blocked from doing what the American economy needs them to do: work?
Take, for example, migrants admitted under humanitarian parole. Under current policy, they can’t work until they go through a backlogged authorization process that can last a year or more. With few other options, migrants barred from working legally may turn to under-the-table work or government relief programs, costing taxpayers money, straining local and state budgets, and fostering dependencies that run counter to the history of US immigration. Meanwhile, US companies are struggling to find workers, with 1.6 open jobs per available unemployed worker.
President Joe Biden can solve this problem by taking executive action to allow these migrants, who have been legally admitted into the country, to work legal jobs immediately — just as tens of thousands of Afghan refugees who have arrived in the US since 2021 have been able to. The rationale is the same: People admitted into the country by US authorities should not be denied the chance to work, which only hurts taxpayers, companies and the broader economy.
