We’ve been arguing for years that allowing asylum seekers to receive work permits as soon as possible is not only the right thing to do for the migrants themselves but for our communities as well, particularly those being held back by a shortage of workers.
Pedro Miguel, an asylum seeker from Angola, and his daughter Jamila, 7, walk through Monument Square in Portland on their way to the family shelter where Jamila is picked up by the bus for school on March 24. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer
Last week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – the largest lobbying group in the country, and one massively influential with conservatives – agreed, coming out in support of efforts by Maine’s own U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree to shorten the waiting period to 30 days.
It’s huge moment for an idea that makes all the sense in the world. Maybe even enough to get it past the finish line.
With thousands of asylum seekers in Maine waiting for their cases to be heard, and hundreds of thousands stuck in the backlog around the country, such a policy would instantly change countless lives for the better.
As it stands now, people seeking asylum in the U.S. cannot receive work authorization until at least six months after their asylum application is filed; in reality, a variety of delays can make the wait time much longer.
In the meantime, asylum seekers have no way to support themselves, adding more stress and uncertainty on folks who have escaped corruption, chaos and oppression in their home countries, and completed a long and dangerous trip just to make it here.
Asylum seekers can receive public aid from general assistance, which offers vouchers for essentials such as shelter, food, clothing and medicine. But the strain on the program is clear: Its costs nearly tripled in three years to $37 million in 2022, largely to put asylum seekers up in hotels – and that represents just part of the strain that having thousands of immigrants who can’t legally work puts on public and nonprofit resources.
The bills by Collins and Pingree both would allow asylum seekers to get work authorization within 30 days. U.S. Sen. Angus King is a co-sponsor on Collins’ bill.
(Gov. Mills in May signed into law a bill from Republican state Sen. Eric Brakey that calls for the state to request a federal waiver also lowering the wait time to 30 days, but that’s considered a long shot.)
Not only would a 30-day waiting period allow asylum seekers to support themselves, and free up scarce public money, but it would also help employers who are desperately seeking workers – and their customers who are sick of seeing places closed down for lack of help.
And with the promise of a steady paycheck, asylum seekers would also be more free to leave cities, too, and go to places where housing is less scarce, helping to energize places that need it while taking some heat off the housing shortage.
That’s where the chamber’s support comes from. The endorsement of the changes to the asylum program are part of a campaign by the group that calls for greater border security coupled with an improved immigration system.
The chamber correctly cites the cuts to legal immigration that have not only led to widespread workforce shortages but also added to the problems at the southern U.S. border, where people who are denied entry by visa programs or other means go as a last resort.
The campaign raises the chance that Congress may undertake finally a grand bargain on immigration, one that allows more people to come into the country legally while tightening up restrictions on illegal immigration.
That remains a long shot. But there’s no reason liberals and conservatives can’t come together to pass the simple fix to the asylum program all by itself. What a difference it would make for thousands of Mainers.
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