If You've Ever Been in the U.S. Illegally, Should You be Barred From Getting a Work Authorization? (H.R. 109)

What is H.R. 109?

(Updated March 4, 2021)

In the name of  keeping U.S. jobs for people born in the U.S. — this bill would bar anyone that has ever been in the country illegally from using legal channels to secure a work authorization.

That’s it: if a person was in the U.S. without government approval, they can’t get authorization to work here. Well, ok, the bill specifies that it must be determined — in a valid immigration proceeding — that a person was illegally present in the United States. This would be at a hearing to see if they should get the work authorization. But it’s a short bill.

Argument in favor

This bill would incentivize immigrants to go through the proper legal channels if they want to work in the U.S. If they can't follow the rules, then they shouldn't be able to work here and fill jobs that would otherwise go to Americans.

Argument opposed

Immigrants don’t put Americans’ jobs at risk. This bill, like all anti-immigrant rhetoric, is a tried-and-true scare tactic by the powers-that-be to make the working class blame immigrants for their ails instead of the powers-that-be.

Impact

Undocumented immigrants in the country, people that want to immigrate to the U.S., American-born workers, employers that use alien resident worker programs, U.S. Border Patrol, related federal agencies, and the U.S. economy.

Cost of H.R. 109

A CBO estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) reintroduced this bill, which he also sponsored in the 115th and 114th Congresses, to prohibit the Dept. of Homeland Security from granting work authorizations to immigrants who'd been unlawfully present in the U.S. in the past.

This bill has no cosponsors in the current Congress. In the 115th Congress, it had the support of two cosponsors, both of whom were Republicans.

Of Note: “They took our jobs!” is a rallying cry against immigration. But how true is it? According to labor union SEIU, immigrants take jobs that native-born Americans leave behind as they find higher levels of education. They also start businesses and buy American-made goods, boosting the economy. The real problem, they argue, is that big business takes advantage of the steady stream of undocumented workers it gets from abroad to make a profit.

There’s also an issue of agency here. A lot of undocumented immigrants were brought to the U.S. as kids — they didn’t really have a choice in the matter. About 1.4 percent of all kids in K-12 schools are undocumented immigrants. That’s about five million kids who would be banned from work visas under this law.

David Frum at The Atlanticargues that most of the jobs created since the recession have gone to immigrants.

Media:

• Sponsoring Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) Facebook Post (114th Congress)
  
• Sponsoring Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) Year-End Report (2017)
• The Atlantic (Context)
  
• SEIU (Context)
  
• American Progress (Context)
• New York Times (Context & Debate)