Saying that the US immigration system is broken is not new. For years, thousands and thousands of migrants arrive and are faced with a broken, decadent policy that does not respond to current conditions. The southern border is an area that receives migrants from all sides every day trying to enter the “land of opportunities.”
According to Michael R. Bloomberg, former mayor of New York and former presidential candidate in 2020, the options that the United States offers to those who qualify as political asylees are laughable. “Current federal law prevents asylum seekers who have already been admitted into the United States from immediately working. The process of receiving a work authorization can take a year or longer. In the meantime, how are asylum seekers expected to pay rent and feed themselves and their families?,” Bloomberg asks in a column published in the New York Times last Sunday.
And following this logic, it resumes the crisis that is being experienced in cities such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, Denver and, recently, Los Angeles, where hundreds and thousands of migrants waiting for their asylum requests to be resolved are saturating the support systems of those cities.
For Bloomberg, it’s imperative that Congress and the president work together to secure the resources and adopt the policy changes necessary to fix the asylum process. That means creating a system that is:
Compassionate. America’s refugee laws were designed to help those who were uprooted by World War II and to protect those escaping repressive communist regimes, but the laws are now being used by those fleeing economic hardship and gang violence. Their cases can be heartbreaking, and the United States must do more to help other countries address violence and poverty. But the asylum process should be orderly enough to ensure that we can prioritize taking in — and helping resettle — those fleeing war and state persecution.
Fair. Those who wait their turn for a visa should be respected. The circumvention of standard immigration pathways only reduces incentives to follow the rules.
Just. Justice delayed, as the saying goes, is justice denied. Congress should provide the resources the administration needs to ensure that asylum claims can be resolved in days or weeks, not years.
Practical. If the U.S. government lets you in, it should let you work. It’s the American way, and it’s what generations of immigrants have done. President Biden should use his executive authority to allow many more people to work, and he should work with Congress to ensure that all others can, too.
Rational. Housing costs should not be borne by taxpayers, who cannot possibly be expected to pay to house all the people who arrive every year. Mayor Adams is right in seeking to update the city’s consent decree in order to make this clear, and the Biden administration should reach out to mayors around the country who recognize the power of refugees to help revive and spur local economies.
Humane. When it admits asylum seekers, the federal government should not force local governments to shoulder the burden alone. Cities need federal support to help connect asylum seekers, many of whom arrive with nothing, to employment, housing and services.
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