Campbell, other AGs join call for feds to speed migrant work approvals
Work authorization speeds are 'inexcusable,' coalition says
ONE WEEK AFTER Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency regarding the migrant crisis, including a call for more expedited federal work authorizations, Attorney General Andrea Campbell and 18 other attorneys general joined in.
“The vast majority of new arrivals in recent months – like many who have come before them – want nothing more than an opportunity to work, and many of our businesses are eager to hire additional workers,” Campbell and her counterparts from other states wrote in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “Many thousands of recent newcomers are eligible for work authorization, but permission to work has been needlessly delayed by inconsistencies in grants of parole and application processing delays.”
The bottlenecks are having spillover effects on state shelter systems, which are being overwhelmed by migrants.
Campbell and the group of AGs wrote that delays in granting work authorizations to migrants in state shelters are preventing from moving toward self-sufficiency and cycling off of state supports.
“A significant portion of the recent migrant population – many of whom are seeking asylum – have been paroled into the country and are therefore immediately eligible for work permits, but processing delays leave too many waiting ten months or more for authorization,” the letter reads. “These delays are placing an increasing burden on states to support families who would be able to support themselves immediately if given the opportunity to do so.”
The problem is particularly acute in Massachusetts, the only state in the nation with a “right to shelter” law that requires the state to house certain homeless populations, including families and pregnant women. Some 5,600 families are currently living in Bay State emergency shelters, with about one-third of them being recent arrivals, according to the state.
Idiosyncrasies in the system make applying for and renewing work authorizations needlessly inconvenient, the coalition wrote. Those who need to have fees waived cannot apply online, and existing work permits that expired while renewals were underway have cost immigrants their employment.
“This is inexcusable,” Campbell and her colleagues wrote.
The coalition is asking the Biden administration to expedite employment authorization for those lawfully allowed into a US port of entry, address inconsistent lengths of parole, streamline and automate renewals, and permit online access to work authorizations with fee waivers.
At the same time as the state shelter system is buckling under the influx, Massachusetts faces a dire workforce shortage. Business leaders consistently warn that the state economy hangs in the balance and are eager to back policies to help immigrants access Bay State educational and workforce opportunities.
Giving immigrants “the ability to work in the United States will certainly help our state in terms of them not being so reliant on our welfare program,” said Paul Craney, spokesperson for the conservative Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. “That is a good thing, however it does not address the primary concern.”
Craney criticized the Biden administration’s border policies, arguing that the inflow of immigrants creates a burden on the states and encourages illegal and dangerous crossings.
“We need to secure the border first, and then we can care for the people who are already here,” he said. “Without addressing the open southern border, no policy in place will alleviate the economic strain Massachusetts taxpayers and our safety net programs will continue to endure.”
The Department of Homeland Security has not made a public statement about Healey’s earlier request for action on work authorization delays, and the agency did not immediately reply to request for comment.
The state’s congressional delegation sent a letter last month to Mayorkas and US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ur Jaddou, asking for standardized, streamlined, and automatically renewed work authorizations for applicants.