WORK PERMITS FOR ALL
The Work Permits for All campaign (or “Here to Work”) is a mobilization of mixed status families, DREAMers left out of DACA, community based organizations, business leaders and employers calling on the president to use his administrative authority to extend parole—permission to be in the country and apply for a work permit— to the 11 million long-term undocumented immigrants in the United States.
Existing language in immigration law allows the president to grant parole to undocumented immigrants without congressional approval, which would protect undocumented immigrants from deportation and allow them to apply for work authorization. Unlike the DACA program, extending parole to long-term undocumented immigrants is protected from inevitable litigation because of existing precedent. In the last three years, parole and work authorization has been granted to over 550,000 newly arrived immigrants from certain countries, namely Ukraine, Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Afghanistan.
Allowing long-term undocumented immigrants to receive parole and work authorization protects them from deportation, creates job mobility and prevents exploitation in the workplace, allows them to benefit from their tax contributions, and allows undocumented immigrants to provide for their families with the dignity that they deserve. It also addresses labor shortages, helps bring down inflation, and helps the United States maintain its economic vitality.
