The Biden administration is giving illegal immigrants work permits like Halloween candy, with a record 3.3 million handed out since Biden took office in 2021 and another 1.4 million pending applications this year alone.
Americans think they understand the scope of Biden’s border destruction. They have no idea of the quiet efforts Biden has been making behind the scenes to encourage the flood of illegals across the border and into the U.S.
Biden, who claims he has no “authority” to enact meaningful immigration policies by executive order, has been quietly passing those same executive orders to expand illegal access to jobs and benefits. The Biden administration has passed at least 530 executive actions through eight programs designed to keep the tide flowing.
Some avenues, like the CPBOne app, allow illegal immigrants to skip the line and book an online appointment with U.S. border officials. Immigrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Haiti enjoy direct flights from their countries of origin directly into the nation’s interior, whether they have family or sponsors within the U.S. “Family reunification” programs allow illegal immigrants to fly directly to their families within the U.S. from Honduras, Colombia, El Salvador, Cuba, Ecuador, Haiti, and Guatemala.
Since Biden took office, an estimated 2.3 million illegals have used these programs, most without background checks or more than a token healthcare screening.
On arrival, these immigrants are granted “parole” and issued work permits.
In 1996, the Immigration and Naturalization Service introduced a new regulation mandating that asylum seekers wait six months before applying for work
After examining the prior year’s immigration data, then-Immigration Commissioner Doris Meissner declared that the new rules eliminated the “primary incentive” and decreased asylum claims significantly.
“We have closed a back door to illegal immigration with this crackdown on fraud,” Meissner said at the time.
The regulation ensured that asylum was used only by those escaping genuine persecution, not those coming to America seeking better employment opportunities. It’s a distinction that the Biden administration has purposefully forgotten.
Under Biden’s sketchy use of the parole program, illegal immigrants are granted immediate asylum and all the benefits, including work permits and a social security card, that come along with it.
Less than 480 illegal immigrants were granted parole between 2014 and Biden’s installation to the White House in 2020. After he took charge, an estimated 700,000 were granted parole from 2022 to 2023. Most were granted parole before being given asylum, sidestepping the rule requiring them to wait six months before getting work permits.
So far, 2024 seems to be on pace to grant 3.3 million work permits for illegal immigrants. It’s an escalation of prior years, with 1.3 million permits granted in 2022 and 2 million handed out in 2023.
The government doesn’t keep track of work permits granted to parolees, but experts estimate that half of the permits went to this group. The demographic has no legal right to be in the country other than those executive orders Biden continues to pass to ensure they can remain.
According to a paper released by the Cato Institute, the issue has led to a backlog of green card applications.
In the fiscal year 2024, only 3% of applicants are projected to obtain permanent residence. However, this seemingly small percentage is overshadowed by a colossal backlog of approximately 34.7 million applications. The issue becomes even more pronounced when considering Employment-Based green cards. Of the 1.8 million applicants in this category, only 8% are expected to achieve citizenship successfully. The annual cap for Employment-Based green cards stands at 140,000, with any unused family-sponsored green cards added to this total. However, despite a temporary increase in the employment-based cap, demand consistently exceeds supply.
Adding to the complexity, the distribution of these green cards does not prioritize applicants who have already been in the U.S. and are waiting for their green cards. Country caps favor those applying in the next year, overshadowing those already waiting. Indian applicants, who make up half of employer-sponsored immigrants, face more than a hundred years of delays to get their green cards.
Biden’s approach is an illegal and unconstitutional overreach at best. It prioritizes illegal immigrants over American citizens, as well as over the many legal immigrants who chose the right path to citizenship and are now unfairly penalized by delays and backlogs. It’s just another day in Biden’s America.
