We must let asylum seekers work — it will help them assimilate while boosting our economy

Since the beginning of 2023, Mainers have welcomed more than 550 asylum seekers to Portland — the largest city in my district — and more arrive every week. That’s in addition to the roughly 2,000 asylum seekers who arrived in Portland in 2022. Local leaders have done everything possible to support people seeking safety, but our shelters are overwhelmed to the point that people are sleeping upright and municipal resources are depleted. At the same time, our employers are in desperate need of skilled workers. Just last month it was reported that Maine needs at least 3,200 new workers to sustain state and federal investments in broadband. Our labor shortage shouldn’t be this dire when there are thousands of asylum seekers who are willing and able to fill these open jobs. Similar stories can be found in communities all across the country. Maine has a rich history of welcoming people fleeing conflict, and we will continue doing so. But to ease asylum seekers’ transition into our communities, we need to address hurdles within the long and complicated asylum process. In 2018, Innocent Ilunga fled his home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, seeking safety and freedom in the U.S. Innocent is now living and working in Portland, but his journey to true independence took more than a year because of our arbitrary work authorization waiting period. ADVERTISING Innocent tried to stay busy. He took English lessons in the Hope House English Language Program, as a student and then as a volunteer assistant. But he was legally prohibited from doing much else but waiting—all the while staying dependent on federal and local assistance. Under a federal law passed in 1996, asylum seekers are required to wait at least half a year after filing an asylum petition before becoming eligible to work. The law requires that, once a person files an asylum claim, he or she must wait 150 days before being able to apply for a work authorization, which could be granted no earlier than 180 days after filing the initial claim. Because of technical issues and delays in processing requests, this time period is often much longer. In 2020, the Trump administration more than doubled the period asylum seekers must wait to apply for work authorization. Because of this extreme change, people like Innocent had to wait 365 days to even apply to work here in the U.S.—preventing them from gaining work, becoming self-sufficient as they establish roots in their new community, or contributing to our recovering economy. Thankfully, the Trump-era rules were recently overturned by a federal judge, but asylum seekers are still held to the previous 180 day waiting period, which remains far too long. My Asylum Seeker Work Authorization Act offers a commonsense fix to our counterintuitive system by reducing the waiting period for work authorization eligibility to just 30 days and allowing an asylum seeker to apply for work permit as soon as their asylum claim is filed. Additionally, my bill would eliminate the requirement that these work permits be renewed every two years, reducing unnecessary red tape while allowing asylum seekers to stay connected to their jobs and employers to maintain their labor force. Not only will this help assimilate independent asylum seekers into our communities and unburden social services, but my bill will also boost our economy and help local businesses as they face workforce shortages. Innocent now works at a credit union in Portland and sits on the Hope Acts Board of Directors. But he says he has friends still waiting to join the workforce. “It’s been over a year, and they are frustrated,” he said. Why should skilled workers be denied the means to support themselves because of an arbitrary waiting period? Why should businesses continue to struggle to hire workers because of an ineffective system? Asylum seekers want to work. They want to be independent and prosper in their new communities. For more information, visit us at http://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/index.html.