SUMMARY
- USCIS will stop accepting new intitial applications for work permits. Given current backlog, it will take 14 to 173 years for new applications to be processed. https://cis.org/Jacobs/DHS-Proposes-Reforms-Its-Asylum-Applicant-Work-Permit-Rules
- Asylum applicants will have to wait 365 days instead of 180 days to apply for a work permit. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/02/23/2026-03595/employment-authorization-reform-for-asylum-applicants
- USCIS will have expanded authority to deny work authorization including –
- Any reason,
- “Reason to believe” applicants committed certain crimes,
- Applicants miss the asylum 1-year filing deadline, or miss a biometrics appointment, asylum interview, or immigration court hearing, with limited exceptions. ASAP_One_Pager_Rapid_Response.pdf
Public Comment
Due Friday April 24,2026
We strongly oppose the proposed rule change, “Employment Authorization Reform for Asylum Applicants” (DHS Docket No. USCIS-2025-0370). Implementing the proposed changes will have a severe impact on asylum applicants’ chances for a new beginning and future, and local communities and business will suffer.
Our nation will turn its back on Lady Liberty’s words.
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-Tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Emma Lazarus – November 2, 1883
Our nation will be violating the basic rights specified in 1951 United Nations Convention “Relating to The Status of Refugees”
- Access to the courts,
- Access to primary education,
- Access to work,
- Provision of documents such as refugee passport.
Our nation will continue its slide to economic inequality and away from a peaceful society.
The obligation to earn one’s bread by the sweat of one’s brow also presumes the right to do so. A society in which this right is systematically denied, in which economic policies do not allow workers to reach satisfactory levels of employment, cannot be justified from an ethical point of view, nor can society attain social peace. (St. John Paul II, The Hundredth Year [Centesimus Annus], no. 43)
Increased Trauma
Refugees have already experienced trauma in leaving their homeland, waiting in uncertainity in camps or traveling. Having arrived in the United States, they now must learn how to navigate a new society, find housing, transportation, food, education for their childern, and employment.
Asylum Seekers Contribute to their new communities.
They add to the diversity of our communities, states and nation. Our economy benefis from their hard work
In Washington County, Oregon refugees represent $979.1 m in spending power and pay $356m in taxes(federal, state and local). American Immigration Council, “New Americans in Oregon”, 2023
| Estimated number and shares of people seeking asylum by occupation as of mid-2025 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Estimated number of workers seeking asylum | % of workers seeking asylum | % of all workers in U.S. | |
| Construction | 401,000 | 17.4 | 4.7 |
| Transportation and warehousing | 317,000 | 13.8 | 2.4 |
| Manufacturing and production | 170,000 | 7.4 | 1.9 |
| Food preparation and services | 256,000 | 11.1 | 2.8 |
| Building/grounds maintenance | 255,000 | 11.1 | 4.4 |
| Sales | 151,000 | 6.6 | 1 |
| Other occupations | 750,000 | 32.6 | 0.7 |
| TOTAL | 2,300,000 | 100% | 1.4 |
| Source: Augmented 2024 American Community Survey data, adjusted to reflect the total number of asylum seekers in mid-2025. | |||
https://www.fwd.us/news/people-seeking-asylum-are-contributing-to-the-workforce
We urge DHS to withdraw this proposal and protect the ability of asylum seekers to work lawfully while their cases are pending.
Sincerely,
John M. Kingery, Justice at the Table, Beaverton Oregon