Immigration Policy Summary And Analysis

The Andrew Romay New Immigrant Center (ARNIC) serves newly arrived low-income adult immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers from over 60 countries. As an intern, my primary job duty entails conducting assessments and referrals for clients on issues such as education, employment, housing, and mental health concerns. Currently, under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), asylum seekers are prohibited from working until 180 days after applying for asylum (Jacek & Kristina, 2013). In reality, many applicants end up waiting for several years to be granted asylum since immigration judges and asylum officers can “stop the clock” that keeps track of the number of days if they determine that the applicant has delayed the proceedings (Jacek …show more content…
The Refugee Act of 1980 expanded the INA by adopting the 1951 United Nations’ provisions that defined a refugee and asylee as any foreign national who could demonstrate “a well-founded fear of persecution on account of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion” (Jaggers, Gabbard, & Jaggers, 2014; Brunno, Bjelopera, Garcia, et al., 2013., p31). In 1996, the INA was amended and a 180-day waiting period for a work permit was created to prevent frivolous claims and to reduce a large backlog (Jacek & Kristina, 2013). Despite this, according to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (2015), the number of pending affirmative asylum cases has grown from 9,000 in 2010 to 82,000 as of March of this year, and the number of immigration court backlog cases has risen from 262,799 in 2010 to …show more content…
The U.S. is the only developed country that denies asylum seekers both the right to work and the right to receive benefits (Jacek & Kristina, 2013). Countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa allow asylum seekers to work, provided they show identification or a need to work (Jacek & Kristina, 2013). European Union member states, which are struggling with the Syrian refugee crisis, provide social benefits to asylum seekers to ensure that their basic needs are met (Jacek & Kristina, 2013). Federal law should also be changed because it is incompatible with international human rights standards. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, which the United States has signed, stresses that everyone has the right to work regardless of their legal status (Jacek & Kristina,