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More than 100 House Democrats have sent President Joe Biden a letter demanding that he provide more privileges to illegal immigrants.
In the letter, sent on Sunday and also addressed to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, 103 House Dems outlined three things they want Biden to deliver on.
For one, they demanded executive action that would benefit the interests of “certain undocumented individuals who are stuck in limbo and asylum seekers in obtaining work authorization.”
They also asked Biden to authorize work permits for illegals, bypassing the statutory 150 days someone seeking asylum must wait before applying to get such a permit.
“The administration could assist asylum seekers and their communities by increasing the use of parole and decreasing the regulatory 150-day wait period for asylum seekers to apply for work authorization,” the letter said.
According to a study by immigration economist George Borjas, the effect of mass illegal immigration is lower wages on average, especially for jobs that are already on the lower end of the pay spectrum.
“The immigration surplus of $35 billion comes from reducing the wages of natives in competition with immigrants by an estimated $402 billion a year, while increasing profits or the incomes of users of immigrants by an estimated $437 billion,” the study found.
In addition, Democrats wrote in the letter that they wanted the wait times, which are due to massive backlogs, for illegals already in the U.S. to receive a provisional immigrant visa to be reduced.
“The provisional waiver process allows individuals who are statutorily eligible for an immigrant visa but for their unlawful presence in the country to apply for a waiver of inadmissibility in the United States before they depart for their immigrant visa interview,” the Democrats wrote.
The Democrats are also pushing for a simplified process whereby undocumented individuals deemed deportable in court can seek the termination of their removal proceedings, guaranteeing their continued presence in the country in spite of the law.
“Lastly, we encourage the administration to establish a process to make non-lawful permanent resident cancellation of removal (cancellation of removal) more accessible to those who are eligible. Such a process would help to streamline cancellation of removal cases and increase access to lawful permanent resident status for immigrants who are vital contributors to their American families and our communities,” the letter added.
The 103 Democrats cited “extreme MAGA Republican opposition” as a reason why they believe they would not be able to change the provisions via legislation.
The letter comes as Democrat-run cities increasingly struggle with massive influxes of illegal aliens.
“I’m gonna tell you something New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I didn’t see an ending to. I don’t see an ending to this… This issue will destroy New York City. Destroy New York City,” Mayor Eric Adams told officials during a town hall-style meeting last week, according to a video clip posted on social media.
He then blasted the Biden administration.
“Month after month I stood up and said this is gonna come to a neighborhood near you. Well, we’re here, we’re getting no support on this national crisis, and we’re receiving no support,” he said, adding that 10,000 migrants per month are flooding into the city (see video below).
“One hundred ten thousand migrants we have to feed, clothe, house, educate the children, wash their laundry sheets, give them everything they need, health care,” Adams said. “Now we’re getting Western Africa, now we’re getting people from all over the globe that made their minds up that they’re gonna come through the southern border and coming to New York City.”
“Everyone is saying it is New York City’s problem. Every community in this city is going to be impacted. We have a $12 billion deficit that we’re going to have to cut. Every service in this city is going to be impacted, all of us,” Adams said.
“All of us are going to be impacted by this. I said it last year when we had 15,000 and I’m telling you now with 110,000. The city we knew, we’re about to lose, and we are all in this together, all of us,” he added.