During a time when labor force participation is at a 38-year low, it would seem natural to curb work permits for foreign nationals to give American citizens an advantage.
But the Obama administration has done just the opposite, Breitbart revealed Wednesday.
In a response to Senate Judiciary Immigration and the National Interest Subcommittee Republicans, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services revealed that the Obama administration has been approving work permits for immigrants far beyond the official admission limits. Some of those immigrants are in industries that Congress never intended to work in the U.S.
The administration has issued more than 7.4 million work permits to foreign nationals from 2009 to 2014, well beyond the approximately one million lawful permanent residents and 700,000 foreign guest workers Congress has allowed admission into the U.S. annually.
Foreign nationals on guest worker visas and green card holders do not need work authorization permits.
The administration renewed or issued new work permits to 1.23 million foreign nationals in 2009, 1.08 million in 2010, 970,277 in 2011, 1.24 million in 2012, 1.68 million in 2013, and 1.24 million in 2014.
These permits were given out to immigrants who were illegal immigrants granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, spouses for guest workers, immigrants granted Temporary Protective Status, foreign students, immigrants granted for volunteer departure, parolees, as well as asylees and refugees.
Even the 113,800 individuals with final deportation orders were granted work permits during that six-year period.
The USCIS provided a list of every zip code in the country, revealing where the extra permits or EADS were issued each fiscal year.
A neighborhood in New York City famous for its overwhelming Asian population, Flushing, N.Y. (zip codes 11355 and 11354) had the greatest number of extra EADs in fiscal year 2014. Sunset Park in Brooklyn (11220), which has a heavy Latino population had the third most EADs with 4,106.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R- Ala.) posted the number of work permits that have been granted in every zip code in the country.
“(The Obama administration is) abusing what should be considered very limited authority to issue work permits,” Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies told Breitbart.
She said the 7.4 million work permits issued exceeded the numerical limits and categories set by Congress.
Vaughn noted that work permits are intended to benefit those applying for legal status or as a temporary benefit. The administration has given them to people who are not eligible for either.
“Work permits have always been intended as a transitional benefit to assist someone that is in the process of applying for legal status, or as a temporary benefit. The administration has used them as a way to secretly give out benefits to huge numbers of people who are not eligible for a legal status. They are using them to bypass the law and evade the rules set by Congress that limit the number of people who can take jobs here,” Vaughn said.
“It’s no wonder people are flocking here to claim asylum, enrolling in school, and using other tactics to get here by hook or by crook,” she continued. “This shadow immigration system is displacing Americans and legal workers from jobs, and Congress needs to take back control of the process without delay.”
Sessions is now calling for an investigation.
“This massive increase in the labor supply has occurred simultaneously with a steep drop in family incomes and a sharp rise in the number of Americans pushed out of the workforce. All jobs gains since the recession have gone to foreign workers while the slack labor market has depressed median family incomes almost $5,000 in that time,” Sessions said.
