On April 24, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) filed a formal comment with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) strongly opposing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would dramatically restrict asylum seekers’ access to employment authorization documents (EADs), the work permits that allow them to legally support themselves and their families.
The proposed rule, published February 23, 2026, would block access to EADs for asylum seekers until the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) clears its asylum application backlog. USCIS states that this could take between 14 and 173 years, or longer, before asylum seekers can even apply for work authorization. The proposed rule also extends the waiting period before an asylum seeker can apply for a work permit from 150 days to 365 days and extends agency processing time to 180 additional days. Under the new rules, asylum seekers would be forced to wait a minimum of 18 months after filing for asylum before they could legally work in the United States.
“This is not policy reform. It is a prolonged sentence of poverty and vulnerability imposed on some of the most at-risk people in the country,” said Ryan Mace, Director of Policy and Communications at USCRI. “The right to work is foundational. Without it, people are pushed into instability instead of given the chance to rebuild. Across the country, communities and employers understand the value asylum seekers bring. Policies that deny the right to work ignore that reality and trap people in vulnerability.”
The rule proposes an indefinite pause on accepting new work permit applications until certain conditions are met. This change alone could, as DHS itself estimates, result in a pause of 173 years or more. This would stop all new work permit applications.
Today, more than 2.3 million asylum seekers are employed in essential sectors such as construction, transportation, and healthcare. DHS’s own estimates acknowledge that asylum seekers could lose between $34.6 billion and $126.6 billion in wages annually, a figure that USCRI’s comment points out significantly understates that full economic harm, as it fails to account for lost tax revenue, business disruption costs, and the ripple effects of removing workers from already shortage-strained industries.
USCRI’s comment also warns that the proposed rule would devastate local providers’ ability to deliver legal aid. New eligibility barriers — including restrictions tied to suspected criminal history, entry method, and filing deadlines — require complex legal analysis, increasing demand for immigration attorneys at a time when pro bono and low-fee providers are already stretched thin.
The rule also raises serious concerns under international law. Barring people who entered without inspection from obtaining work authorization violates Article 31 of the 1951 Refugee Convention, which prohibits penalizing refugees for unauthorized entry.
USCRI calls on DHS to withdraw the NPRM in its entirety, along with related proposed revisions to USCIS Form I-589 and Form I-765.
USCRI’s final comment can be found here. To read the notice of proposed rulemaking, see here.
