New York Finds More Than 18,000 Jobs for Illegal Immigrants With Work Permits

A woman sells candy and other items in a New York City subway station on Aug. 18, 2023. Over 70,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in New York City since last year, according to City Hall, and many have taken to selling items on the streets and subways of the city. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Individuals who illegally came to the United States but have been given legal working papers can pick from over 18,000 jobs across the state of New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.

As part of an effort to move tens of thousands of illegal immigrants out of the government’s care and into independent living, the New York State Department of Labor was tasked in late August with studying the type and number of job openings that could be filled by those with legal work status.

More than a month later, the state announced that it has identified more than 18,000 private sector job openings with nearly 400 employers statewide who are willing to hire illegal immigrants who have valid work authorization.

“Migrants and asylum seekers came here to work—so let’s put them to work,” Ms. Hochul said in an Oct. 2 press release. “Right now, we have a migrant crisis and a workforce crisis. By connecting work-eligible individuals with jobs and opportunity in New York, we can solve them both and secure a brighter future for all New Yorkers.”

According to the state Labor Department, the job openings come from industries such as accommodation and food services (24 percent), health care (21 percent), and manufacturing (10 percent), as well as administrative support (8 percent), construction (5 percent), and retail trade (5 percent).

In New York City, the state has found 9,801 jobs, followed by 2,896 in the Hudson Valley, 1,521 in Western New York, and 1,294 on Long Island.

Employers were identified through a portal where they could tell the state that they would allow eligible individuals to join their workforce, Ms. Hochul said.

“We have to manage the fact that there’s 125,000 people right now, up until tomorrow, that have not been eligible to work, and have relied on public support for housing,” Ms. Hochul said at an Oct. 2 press conference. “That is not a sustainable dynamic. It is just not sustainable in the long term. But we’ve dealt with it. ... I’m going to call on businesses to sign up even more.”

In addition, the state also created a separate portal where illegal immigrants with work permits can register for employment assistance.

Granting Protected Status

The announcement comes after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Sept. 20 granted citizens of Venezuela who entered the United States on or before July 31, 2023, temporary protected status (TPS) for 18 months. This change allows eligible Venezuelan nationals to apply for work authorization immediately and skip a waiting period that typically lasts six months.

Nationwide, the TPS expansion is expected to affect as many as 472,000 Venezuelan nationals. According to the office of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, an estimated 15,000 individuals living in the city’s shelters would qualify for TPS.

The decision to extend TPS to Venezuelans itself was reportedly the result of intense pressure from Mr. Adams and other New Yorkers, who wanted the federal government to step in and ease the burden on the city’s already overcrowded shelter system.

“It is critical that Venezuelans understand that those who have arrived here after July 31, 2023, are not eligible for such protection, and instead will be removed when they are found to not have a legal basis to stay,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in the designation announcement.

Encouraging More Illegal Immigration

However, some observers have raised concerns that the new TPS policy would backfire and exacerbate illegal border crossings. Although Mr. Mayorkas has clarified that the changes do not apply to Venezuelans who illegally cross the border after July 31, many could still be mistakenly convinced that they, too, will get legal work authorization while being shielded from deportation.

“Mayorkas knows that’s an empty threat,” Andrew Arthur, a resident fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, wrote in an analysis.

“The main point is that Mayorkas’s TPS extension is simply going to encourage even more Venezuelans to enter illegally, exactly as DHS’s March 2021 TPS announcement spurred on the Venezuelan migrant surge that the country as a whole—and NYC in particular—has been experiencing ever since,” Mr. Arthur argued.

“If Adams is correct, you'd better visit the Big Apple while you can because it’s not going to last long,” he added, referring to the mayor’s previous warning that the illegal immigration crisis “will destroy” his city.

Over recent months, the number of immigrants eligible for TPS has seen a significant increase under the Biden administration. In April, DHS renewed TPS for 280,000 people from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan. It also extended, designated, or redesignated TPS protections for 135,000 people from Ethiopia, Haiti, Somalia, and Yemen.