Analysis on Senator Collins’ Ineffective Legislation on Work Permits for Asylum Seekers

Senators Collins and Sinema re-introduced the Asylum Seeker Work Authorization Act in the Senate earlier this month – a proposal that would allow asylum seekers to apply for work permits 30 days after applying for asylum, as opposed to the current law which requires a 6-month waiting period. This waiting period needlessly leaves asylum seekers without the ability to work to support themselves and their families and deprives businesses of much needed workers. 

Unfortunately, despite ILAP’s strong urging against it, Senators Collins and Sinema added a new, counterproductive provision to the language which will only serve to politicize this bill. The bill would differentiate access to work permits based on how an asylum seeker enters the country. A person who enters at a port of entry would be eligible to apply for a work permit in 30 days after applying for asylum but those who crossed between ports of entry would still have to wait six months - even though U.S. law is clear that people have the right to seek asylum no matter how they are forced to enter the country. This provision plays into dehumanizing narratives about asylum seekers, insinuating they have choices and that there is otherwise access to life-saving protection at the U.S.-Mexico border. There is not.

Operationally, this provision would add burdens and slowdowns at USCIS which would have to screen and adjudicate manner of entry in a work permit application. Additionally, while the bill was updated to require asylum seekers to re-apply for work permits every two years (as opposed to the incredibly burdensome annual renewal that had been in pervious versions of the bill), the best version of this bill would allow for work authorization for the duration of the underlying asylum case’s adjudication. During the adjudication, an asylum seeker’s status is not changing, and renewals only add administrative burdens on employers, individuals, and USCIS. Given the current state of USCIS, renewals add to backlogs and put asylum seekers at risk of having gaps in work authorization at no fault of their own, again, defeating the point of the legislation. 

ILAP calls on Senator Collins to work with her colleagues in the Senate to build effective legislation by removing the provision in the bill that would differentiate access to work permits based on entry and to grant authorization for as long cases are pending. Removing the six-month waiting period is a crucial step in allowing asylum seekers to support themselves and their families, secure housing, remove the burdens on states and localities, and help businesses access workers already in their communities.