A coalition including Chicago business, faith and municipal leaders announced a nationwide campaign to press the White House to extend work permits to undocumented immigrants who are long-term residents of the U.S.
“I remain steady in my belief that a more inclusive and equitable future for all residents is truly possible, whether they arrived here yesterday or have been here for an extended period of time,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said during an April 4 presentation of the Here to Work project.
Johnson said he will send a letter signed by county executives and mayors around the country urging President Joe Biden to grant work permits to undocumented immigrants, especially those who have been living in the U.S. for many years. Support already has come from cities such as Atlanta, Boston, Denver, New York, San Francisco and Seattle.
Brandon Johnson
“We cannot waver in our commitment to the immigrant communities. There are forces that are also looking to divide us, but not under my watch. There’s enough here for everyone. There are clear economic benefits to enabling immigrant communities to work,” Johnson said.
The same day Johnson and other Chicago leaders outlined their initiative, the Biden administration announced work permit extensions for some immigrants already legally employed in the U.S., including asylum seekers and green card holders.
“Authorization will be increased from up to 180 days to up to 540 days from the expiration date stated on their Employment Authorization Documents,” according to a new rule published in the Federal Register. The Department of Homeland Security “is taking these steps to help prevent renewal applicants from experiencing a lapse in their employment authorization and documentation.”
The move follows White House decisions to extend or expand Temporary Protected Status to nationals from Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan. The designation includes permission to live and work in the U.S.
Also, DACA grants work permissions to undocumented immigrants who entered the country as children. The National Immigration Forum estimated last year that only 580,000 of 3.6 million Dreamers in the U.S. are currently protected by the program. The Obama-era initiative is under review by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
But those measures do not extend to the nation’s population of undocumented immigrants, with the Migration Policy Institute projected at around 11 million.
Work permits would benefit undocumented residents and the nation, Johnson said. “The Congressional Budget Office predicts that the U.S. GDP is going to be boosted by $7 trillion over the next 10 years due to the effects of immigration.”
Rebecca Shi
The immigrant population already is a major economic force in Chicago and Illinois, said Rebecca Shi, executive director of the American Business Immigration Coalition.
The state is home to 320,000 undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala, and another 40,000 from Haiti and Nigeria, she said. Together, these residents have contributed $1.5 billion in state tax revenues and comprise 26% of its work force.
“We are grateful to the president for providing work permits to the new arrivals and ask him to extend the same dignity of work permits to long-term residents who are helping to build our city,” Shi said.
A March 7 letter to Biden signed by labor, business, education, religious and other nonprofit groups argued that formalizing the undocumented work force will help meet the nation’s ongoing labor shortage.
“In addition to the economic benefit, a work permit would allow all workers to earn a fair wage and secure benefits,” the letter said. “It would lessen the power of unscrupulous employers to take advantage of our lowest-wage workers, who are overrepresented by Black, Latino and immigrant workers, and expand a legal pathway for employers to hire qualified workers.”
“Latinos are building the United States of America.”
Immigrants have become the backbone of the nation’s pool of essential workers, said Jaime di Paulo, president of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Jaime di Paulo
“In the Baltimore bridge collapse, six Latinos passed away that day. It was no coincidence. Latinos are building the United States of America. Every time there is a tragedy in construction, there is going to be a Latino there. This is the reason why we are here today. We need to urge the president of the United States, through our mayor, to extend permits to the undocumented workers who have been building the United States for years.”
Mexican immigrant Teresa Labastida spoke of the hardships she and her husband have endured while trying to work legally in Chicago.
“My husband and I have been working in the shadows for 25 years,” she said. “We don’t have a legal work permit. We file taxes every year. We have a good track record. What about us? This country gladly takes our labor, but when it is time to grant us work permits, it feels like they forgot about us. We also deserve to get out of the shadows and work with dignity.”
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