Recent arrivals from Venezuela celebrated when the Biden administration allowed eligible individuals to work in the U.S. For Consuelo Martinez and her husband, who had lived in constant fear after working in the U.S. for 27 years without permission, the news was bittersweet. “When I heard that my Venezuelan brothers and sisters, the president, overnight, gave them permission to work, I became sad. I became very, very sad,” Martinez said.
Hailing from Chicago, Martinez joined hundreds of other immigrants, employers, and advocates in a rally at Lafayette Square opposite the White House to call on President Joe Biden to use his executive powers and grant them work permits. The lack of congressional immigration legislation and the growing number of Republican legal challenges to expanding work permits and deferred deportations for immigrants have left many long-standing undocumented immigrants wondering about their futures. Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, explained that while Biden has been able to extend Temporary Protected Status to Venezuelans, the extension of similar privileges to all immigrants is legally challenging.
Various groups urge the Biden administration to consider labor shortages as a justification for expanding work permits to immigrants who lack legal status. They argue for the need to extend the opportunity to the long-term undocumented immigrants who have contributed significantly to the workforce. According to Rebecca Shi, the executive director of the American Business Immigration Coalition, the Biden administration has extended work permits more generously to new migrants like Venezuelans, Cubans, and Ukrainians, giving hope to many employers.
The administration faces growing pressure to address the immigration issue for the millions of undocumented individuals who have lived and worked in the U.S. for an extended period. Sergio Suarez, an entrepreneur who has been in the U.S. for 47 years, highlighted the invaluable contributions of long-standing immigrants to the U.S. workforce and urged President Biden to grant them work permits to allow them to work in peace without fear of deportation or apprehension.
As discussions around immigration reform continue, many hope for a resolution that considers the unique circumstances and contributions of long-standing immigrants and the need to address labor shortages in the U.S.
