On Thursday, in response to intensifying pressure from officials in New York and other cities struggling to house new migrant arrivals, the Biden administration sent notifications to tens of thousands of migrants across the U.S. reminding them to apply for work permits.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) started sending texts and emails to migrants who are eligible to apply for work authorization with the agency, including asylum-seekers and those who arrived in the US under programs the Biden administration created to discourage adults and families from crossing the southern border without authorization.
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The notifications read: “You are receiving this message because you were paroled into the U.S. You can apply for a work permit online.” They included a link to the USCIS work authorization application.Â
The notifications are being sent to migrants who entered the US under a process that allows Americans to sponsor the entry of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, as well as those processed at ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border after securing an appointment through a government phone app. The Biden administration has been processing both populations under the immigration parole authority, which allows migrants to work and live in the US legally on a temporary basis, typically for two years.
Naree Ketudat, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees USCIS, confirmed the department had “launched a first-of-its-kind national campaign for noncitizens who are work-eligible but have not yet applied for employment authorization.”
Migrants whose cases have been pending for at least 150 days and who’ve filed asylum cases will also receive a version of the notification. US law only allows asylum-seekers to receive work permits 180 days after they submit their applications.
