EXPEDITED WORK PERMITS MIGHT BLUNT EFFECTS OF MIGRANT TRANSFERS

There is no question that migration patterns at our southern border continue to be a significant challenge for our border control functionaries. Some of the overwhelming consequences are filtering through to municipalities throughout the country. Political blame is readily doled out. However, its substance depends on which party provides the criticism. The Trump administration reduced legal immigration by 63%, but did not make a dent in illegal border crossings. (Cato Institute, Jan. 20, 2021). On President Biden's watch the average number of encounters at the border reached three times those experienced during his predecessor's presidency. The underlying reasons for this result are, again, politically charged and debatable. It is useful, however, to point out that this phenomenon is by no means unique to our southern border. Europe is experiencing a similar situation. Through April of this year, migration patterns from North Africa into the E.U. has increased 2.5 times over what they were just a year ago. Italy alone is confronting a 400% increase. And the U.K. has encountered a record doubling of the migration rate. All this on top of the 8.2 million refugees from Ukraine the continent had to absorb. Republican governors from states impacted by the migration surge have been sending migrants released at our border with Mexico to Democratic strongholds elsewhere in the country. Their barely concealed motivation appears to be to make political statements either for local consumption or to force the Biden administration to do something, whatever that may be. Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent more than 17,500 migrants to Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia. These included several busloads to the residence of Vice President Kamala Harris. Florida Governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis claims to have transferred nearly 11,000 migrants. And former Arizona Governor Dough Ducey prided himself on last year sending fifty busloads of migrants to Washington D.C.. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has lamented that "It is both a sad and a tragic day when a government official uses migrants as a pawn for political purposes." For cities forced to host this massive, unannounced infusion of asylum seekers comes at a significant cost. New York City is a case in point. According to City Hall officials, last year the city took in more than 60,000 migrants. City run shelters and emergency sites are overflowing, competing for space with an already sizable homeless population. Resources are dwindling. The city spends an average of $380 per household per day on migrants, and budgets for providing housing, feeding and other social services for an average 40 new households per day. However, recently, new daily arrivals topped 180. Thus far NYC has spent $1 billion, and it expects to need a budget of $4 billion by July 2024. The situation in other affected cities is not much different. Obviously, New York Mayor Eric Adams is not happy. His urgent request for federal assistance so far netted him $30 million, a drop in the bucket given the magnitude of the financial burden facing the city. On another front, however, Mr. Adams appears to be receiving the attention from a more receptive audience. When asked what he needed most, outside of financial support, he was adamant. "Allow people to work, which is one of the number one things we can do. Allow people to work!" Currently asylum seekers have to wait half a year after filing an application before being issued a work permit. This federal law was enacted in 1996. President Trump extended the waiting period to 365 days. This was implemented in August 2020, but overturned in February 2022. The argument is pretty straightforward. Asylum seekers don't come here to seek donated clothing and shelter beds. They want to find work, contribute to the economy and make a new life for themselves. Work would allow these migrants to get out of shelters and hire an immigration lawyer to help expedite the process. Besides, our country faces a workforce crisis. We have roughly 10.7 million job openings, and just 5.9 million unemployed Americans. Fifty mayors sent a letter arguing along these lines to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requesting it expedite the permit process. In March of this year, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) introduced the Asylum Seeker Work Authorization Act of 2023 in the House of Representatives. This Act would allow work permits to be issued 30 days after filing an application for refugee status, and make permits valid for as long as the application remains pending. Many municipalities under financial strain are eager to see this legislation end up on the president's desk. The influx of refugees from the Ukraine into the European Union and elsewhere has forged similar work related responses in affected communities. Ukraine is not an E.U. member. However, its citizens no longer need a permit to engage in paid for activities throughout Europe. Even in the U.S. these refugees can work within the first 90 days following their arrival. They do need to apply for a permanent permit during that time period. The point is that this strategy is being implemented, and it appears to be working. Passage of this Act will undoubtedly face opposition from those who, erroneously, assume that immigrant workers ultimately increase labor market competition and drive down the the wages of native born workers. Many uninformed opponents will also assume that our refugee admissions place a burden on the country as a whole. However, numerous studies have pointed out that these assumptions are generally misguided. A ten year study covering 2005 to 2014 concluded that refugees who had been here from 1980 on contributed $63 billion more to government revenue than they used in public services. A similar study also showed that the proportion of refugee men working was 7% higher than among their U.S. born counterparts. And only 8% of refugees received Social Security or Social Security disability benefits, compared to 15% of the entire population. It does not appear to be a stretch to conclude that the Asylum Seeker Work Authorization Act of 2023 deserves to be adopted. It will allow people to work, contribute to the economy, be less of a burden on society and blunt some of the overwhelming effects of unconscionable migrant transfers. Theo Wierdsma