President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is ending a policy that automatically extended work permits for millions of migrants in the United States.
The policy change, announced by DHS officials on Wednesday, means that migrants seeking extensions of their work permits will now have to undergo “screening and vetting” before such an extension is granted.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow said former President Joe Biden’s administration prioritized migrants in the American labor market over national security — a move he wants to reverse.
“USCIS is placing a renewed emphasis on robust alien screening and vetting, eliminating policies the former administration implemented that prioritized aliens’ convenience ahead of Americans’ safety and security,” Edlow said in a statement:
It’s a commonsense measure to ensure appropriate vetting and screening has been completed before an alien’s employment authorization or documentation is extended. All aliens must remember that working in the United States is a privilege, not a right. [Emphasis added]
Indeed, under Biden and former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, nearly all net job growth in the labor market went to newly arrived migrants. At the same time, millions of Americans remained on the labor market sidelines.
Oppositely, Trump has reversed Biden’s migrant economy, as nearly all job gains are now going to native-born Americans who previously had been out of work. Meanwhile, close to two million migrants have dropped out of the labor market.