Biden admin hands out MILLIONS of work permits to new illegal immigrants despite 180-day waiting rule

The Biden administration has granted federal work permits for over 3.3 million illegal immigrants, with many being given these permits before being granted asylum, a green card, or any documentation stating they can legally stay within the country, according to a Center for Immigration Studies fellow. This is despite a 180-day waiting rule for immigrant work permits. 

A six-month waiting rule for asylum seekers applying for work permits was implemented in 1996 by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, but Biden has been slowly walking chipping away at this requirement under his term, Center for Immigration Studies fellow Don Barnett wrote for the New York Post. 

Barnett wrote, "In a blizzard of rules and over 530 immigration-related executive actions — already blowing past the previous record compiled by Trump over 4 years — the Biden administration has expanded admissions or created brand new admission pipelines under eight distinct and significant programs.” 

According to Barnett, these programs include family reunification programs for those who qualify from Honduras, Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador, Colombia, and Cuba, programs for those in Afghanistan and Ukraine, and a separate direct flight program for those in Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.  

Additionally, there is the CBPOne app in which foreign nationals can book an appointment with US border authorities. Barnett said that around 2.3 million people had entered the US through these programs as of fall 2023. 

Despite these programs, these illegal immigrants may not have lawful immigration status and would not be eligible for legal permanent residency or a green card under these programs. 

"Most have immediate eligibility for a work permit and a Social Security card," Barnett wrote about the illegal immigrants coming to the US. "In some cases, those receiving parole apply for asylum later, after already getting a work permit — nullifying the 180-day wait rule." 

Barnett wrote that as of 2023, 2.139 million work permits had been handed out by the Biden administration, with that number set to cross 3.3 million in 2024. 

An April New York Times piece highlighted how illegal immigrants and experts who have been in the country for a long time, in some cases, decades, were frustrated by the Biden administration’s handing out of work permits to new arrivals. 

"It’s offensive that my employees and other immigrants are being leapfrogged by new arrivals," Sam Sanchez, a Chicago restaurateur, told the outlet. 

"For those of us here a long time trying to do everything right, it’s just not fair that we are forgotten," said Juan, whose last name was withheld over concerns about his immigration status. 

"If President Biden can grant work permits to new arrivals, he can do it for people picking our crops, emptying bedpans and cleaning hotel rooms for more than 10 years," said Rebecca Shi, executive director of the American Business Immigration Coalition.