The “American Dream,” revered historically as a beacon of hope and opportunity, remains out of reach for millions of recent immigrants coming into the United States. Hoping to find better lives and escape dangerous circumstances, these individuals are becoming increasingly trapped in a battle of legal issues. Most of the recent arrivals to major American cities want to work and contribute to American society, but without money to pay for lawyers to help them fill out and file immigration forms, it is extremely challenging to begin the process. The dream of thriving in America becomes difficult to attain for a majority of immigrants because work authorization cards, asylum, and stable housing are next to impossible to achieve under the current immigration system.
I am aware of the struggles of asylum seekers as my family and I have worked closely with Team Tender Loving Care (TLC), an organization assisting migrants who arrive at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, New York. Team TLC provides food, clothes, and information about the city’s free services. As a group of primarily Spanish-speaking volunteers, our role is to help the recent arrivals by gaining an understanding of their situation(i) Do they have family in New York City they can stay with? (ii) Was New York City even their intended destination (many explain that they are provided incomplete information when they are traveling); (iii) Did they get split up from any part of their family in the border crossing process? (iv) Do they still have the papers they received from immigration? (v) Do they need shoes and warm clothing?
During the times that I volunteered, the most common request I received was, “How does one find a job in New York?” The people I spoke with had diverse backgrounds and held various occupations in their home countries. Many were even willing to travel far distances to try to find any employment opportunities. I tried to explain that finding a job would be challenging without a legal authorization document. The next question was, “So how can I get a work card?” That proved to be a difficult response for me to formulate. The U.S. immigration system is notoriously complex to navigate, especially for non-English speakers with limited resources, rarely offering pathways for asylum seekers to apply for legal status. Without access to legal guidance and basic fluency in English, the immigration process can be confusing, opaque, and draining, leaving many immigrants uncertain of their futures.
Since starting to volunteer with Team TLC, I have learned the most common way for immigrants to obtain employment authorization is six months after they have submitted an asylum application. They can then apply for a work card online that can take anywhere from two to six months to arrive. However, submitting an asylum application first requires acquiring and paying thousands of dollars to an immigration lawyer, in addition to the standard price for an employment authorization document (EAD) of $410. Even if an asylum seeker had the money to afford a lawyer or could find one working with pro bono cases (legal voluntary work), the preparation of the asylum application could take months. Therefore, even in the best circumstances, the road to a work card for the selected few could take a minimum of one year. The work card applications my mother and I assisted with are still “processing” more than three months later despite the applicants submitting all the required paperwork and biometrics. However, there are some efforts to alleviate the financial stress placed on incoming migrants, such as the extension of Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”) for Venezuelan immigrants who arrived at the border before July 31st in 2023.
Yet, this only offers one group of people temporary legal status and easier access to receiving work authorization, while other asylum seekers continue to face the difficulties of the current system.
Employment serves as a prerequisite for housing stability. Without the ability to legally work, how should asylum seekers apply for housing once their time at shelters is over? Streamlining the job authorization processes is not just an employment issue but a step toward resolving ongoing housing challenges. The government’s housing plans for recent arrivals, while laudable, are short-term and do not provide enough time for asylum seekers to secure work cards and permanent jobs that will allow them to become financially independent.
While it is important to recognize that not all immigrants coming to America over the last few years require the same level of assistance, the system must be fixed in order to provide incoming migrants with the potential to succeed. Once work card applications are processed quicker, the newcomers can provide verifiable proof of income to rent their own apartments and houses. The current immigration system, entailing housing crises and inaccessibility to financial stability for migrants, requires government intervention. These ongoing struggles of asylum seekers challenged by legal barriers are a reminder that the American Dream, with its promise of hard work, has become increasingly less attainable.
