Migrants with Employment Authorization Documents will have to undergo a full, new screening process.
By Catholics for Catholics
Before their work permits can be renewed, migrants will have to undergo a completely new screening, according to The Department of Homeland Security.
DHS launched a new rule Wednesday requiring all migrants to undertake a full revetting before their work permits can be renovated. The move counters a Biden-era policy that had permitted renewals even without the checks being completed, according to The Washington Times.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which shared the new regulation first with The Washington Times, said the Biden policy had granted exceptional indulgence and had introduced new national security vulnerabilities.
Under the Biden-era policy, migrants’ whose work permits were expiring were conceded a preset 540-day renewal once they filed a new application. Even before USCIS performed any of its verification checks to make sure the person was still entitled under the program, and still had a clean record.
USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said his agency, under President Donald Trump’s orders, is putting a new emphasis on the screening of aliens, and his new policy delivers on that.
“It’s a commonsense measure to ensure appropriate vetting and screening has been completed before an alien’s employment authorization or documentation is extended,” he said. “All aliens must remember that working in the United States is a privilege, not a right.”
For example, work permits, officially known as Employment Authorization Documents or EADs, are seen as one of the most sought after credentials in the immigration world. They not only open up prospects for legal jobs, but are often a proxy for some provisional legal status.
EAD holders are able to nab Social Security numbers and driver’s licenses and get some taxpayer benefits. Often, immigration officers will from time to time even accept an EAD as proof of status.
In recent years, work permit applications have skyrocketed, mostly due to President Biden’s easygoing approach to immigration enforcement.
During the 2024 fiscal year, the last full year under Biden, the USCIS recorded 3.5 million initial applications and 1.3 million renewals. By contrast in 2020, the last full year in Mr. Trump’s previous administration, there were fewer than 2 million applications received.
The new policy doesn’t change the initial approval of EADs, which had always required vetting.
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