[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 199 (Thursday, December 12, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S7030]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Ms. Sinema):
  S. 3048. A bill to authorize certain aliens seeking asylum to be 
employed in the United States while their applications are being 
adjudicated; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Asylum 
Seeker Work Authorization Act of 2019, which is similar to a bill 
introduced by Representative Pingree in the House. My bill would allow 
asylum seekers to seek employment 30 days after applying for asylum, 
provided their applications are not frivolous, their identities have 
been verified, and their names run through the Federal government's 
terrorist watch lists. This change would allow asylum applicants to 
work and contribute to society without being dependent on assistance 
from local governments while their claims are being adjudicated.
  Under current law, asylum seekers must wait 180 days after filing 
their applications before they are allowed to work. The 180-day 
requirement was adopted by the Clinton Administration in 1994 out of 
concern that some asylum seekers might apply for asylum primarily as a 
means of getting a work authorization. Clearly, this change has only 
transferred the burden of care for these asylum seekers onto 
communities across the Nation.
  One such community is Portland, Maine. Earlier this year, over the 
span of several weeks, a surge of asylum seekers from the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo and Angola arrived in Portland after crossing our 
southern border. These asylum seekers could have given a much-needed 
boost to Maine's very tight labor market--our unemployment rate is just 
2.8 percent--but the lengthy work-authorization process prevents these 
asylum seekers from getting jobs even to support themselves.
  Thankfully, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for 
Humanitarian Assistance and Security at the Southern Border Act of 2019 
made funds available to assist local communities dealing with a sudden 
influx of asylum seekers. The City of Portland and private 
organizations in southern Maine received $892,586 from that Act. While 
I am pleased that these funds have been provided to Portland and other 
communities around our country, it would be a better solution if those 
seeking asylum were able to join the workforce and achieve self-
sufficiency as quickly as possible while awaiting the outcome of their 
cases.
  It is my hope that the change proposed by my bill will lessen the 
burden on the budgets of communities hosting asylum seekers while 
allowing these individuals and their families to support themselves as 
they want to do, bringing needed skills to the cities and towns in 
which they settle. I encourage my colleagues to support it.
                                 ______