Trump administration proposes denying work permits to asylum-seekers who illegally cross border

The White House rolled out a proposal Wednesday that, if enforced, would deny work permits to asylum-seekers who fail to enter the U.S. through a port of entry, among other things, Buzzfeed News reports.

{mosads}Asylum-seekers who have been convicted of a felony or arrested for certain crimes would also be denied work permits under the proposal.

Moreover, the proposal could delay the time it takes for asylum-seekers who have already qualified for a work permit to receive one, the news source says. The delays could be anywhere from 150 days to an entire year.

“Asylum law explicitly permits applications regardless of the manner of entry,” an asylum officer with knowledge of the situation told BuzzFeed.

“To single out those asylum-seekers who couldn’t afford a visa and prohibit them from obtaining lawful employment is cruel and has no basis in the law.”

This latest proposal by the Trump administration follows a Department of Homeland Security proposal that would make asylum-seekers pay a fee to apply for and obtain a work permit, according to BuzzFeed.

The proposal itself reportedly stems from a memo to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services that Trump signed in August that asked the agency to provide proposals that would limit work permits for asylum-seekers that entered the country illegally.

“These changes would leave more asylum-seekers dependent, vulnerable to exploitation, and in the shadows, which is exactly where the regime wants them,” Tennessee-based immigration lawyer Andrew Free told BuzzFeed.