Biden Admin Fears Helping Migrants In Dem-Run Cities Could Encourage More Border Crossings

The Biden administration does not want to agree to Democratic-run cities’ requests to grant migrants work permits out of fear that the move could encourage more border crossings, CBS News reported Tuesday.

Democratic leaders in cities with growing migrant populations, such as New York, Chicago and Denver, have been overwhelmed by large influxes of migrants that require shelter and aid. With illegal migrant encounters at the southern border remaining at record levels, the Biden administration fears that granting work permits in an expedited manner could make matters worse and invite lawsuits, according to CBS News.

Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams, whose city has cared for roughly 100,000 migrants in the last year, has urged the federal government to take such action.

“This exacerbates the challenges that both migrants and the city face. The cost of providing for asylum seekers because of their inability to work legally is becoming increasingly unsustainable for our municipal government. Allowing asylum seekers to work while their immigration claims are being processed helps fill job vacancies, creates self-sufficiency, and reduces reliance on the city’s strained shelter and support system,” Adams’ earlier blueprint to help migrants gain employment to fill available jobs said.

Migrants awaiting adjudication of their asylum claims must wait 180 days for work authorization, according to U.S. law.

Some leaders are requesting that the Biden administration grant temporary status to bypass the 180 day limit, according to CBS News. “To address the issue of government funding for housing and food for folks who come to the United States, that could easily be resolved if we extend TPS [Temporary Protected Status] to the Venezuelans, which are, in New York City at least, 60 plus percent of the migrants,” Democratic New York Rep. Adriano Espaillat said, according to CBS News.

“The Administration is committed to working to identify ways to improve efficiencies and maximize the resources the federal government can provide to communities across the country,” White House spokesperson Angelo Fernández Hernández told CBS News. “Recently, Senior Advisor to the President Tom Perez traveled to New York to continue the close coordination with our state and city partners.”

There were roughly 1.9 million pending cases in the immigration courts halfway through fiscal year 2023, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). There are only about 650 judges to handle those cases.

As a result, migrants are rejected daily at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices due to the high demand for appointments, the Daily Caller News Foundation observed in New York City in April, when all 500 daily appointments were completed by 8 a.m. Security guards at the building were telling migrants to return the next day at 4 a.m. and that missing their reporting date would not count against their cases.

“In every part of New York, the system is strained. The courts are backlogged. There are lines outside the ICE office. Shelters are full. It’s just too many people,” a current administration official told CBS News.

Neither the White House nor the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immediately responded to requests for comment.