NumbersUSA’s Support for Proposed Asylum Rule USCIS-2025-0370 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security 

5900 Capital Gateway Drive 

Camp Springs, MD 20746 

RE: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) 

Employment Authorization Reform for Asylum Applicants 

DHS Docket No. USCIS-2025-0370 

NumbersUSA welcomes U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) related to the Employment Authorization Documents for asylum applicants, and submits the following comment for consideration as the agency seeks to finalize the rule.  

Founded in 1996, NumbersUSA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that believes better immigration policy is possible and needed. As America’s largest single-issue advocacy group, NumbersUSA is focused exclusively on immigration reform. NumbersUSA empowers over 8 million grassroots supporters spread across every congressional district to impact immigration policy with information, tools, access, and influence. We advocate for sensible immigration policies that put Americans first, and a system that prioritizes security and economic fairness while protecting the environment and quality of life. 

Asylum Caseload is Unsustainable 

The United States asylum system was created to provide protections for those fleeing persecution in their home country, and specifically to protect those facing state sponsored violence and torture. America’s asylum policies have been generous, but with that generosity has come abuse and exploitation that has put the system on the brink of collapse. The open borders agenda of President Biden highlighted the enormous and serious risks facing our country by not reining in the fraud and abuse of so-called asylum seekers. By the time President Biden left office, the asylum caseload was unsustainable.  

According to publicly available data and the Center for Immigration Studies, the affirmative asylum docket grew under President Biden.¹ At the end of Fiscal Year 2020, the affirmative asylum caseload stood at 336,053 pending cases. By June 2023, the USCIS Ombudsman reported that the affirmative backlog stood at approximately 842,000 pending cases. Today, it stands at more than 1.4 million cases.  

According to USCIS’ data from March 20, 2026, the agency had 1,435,560 asylum cases pending. During the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025, the agency reported that it had only completed 116,795 cases. In the entire fiscal year, the agency only completed 345,814 asylum applications. Clearly, the number of applications being submitted is outpacing what the agency can handle. And, while asylum applicants await a decision on their case, they are able to live freely and work in the country.  

We couldn’t agree more with the agency, which states in the NPRM, that “This drastic increase in the affirmative asylum backlog highlights the dire situation USCIS finds itself in and the urgent need for reform of the existing regulations and process.” 

Asylum Seekers Are Not Entitled to Employment in the United States 

Aliens who seek asylum in the United States may be eligible to work in the country, however, an applicant is not entitled to a work permit. As stated in the NPRM, there are several statutes that recognize the Secretary’s discretion, including:  

• Section 274A(h)(3)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) recognizes the Secretary’s discretionary authority to extend employment authorization to aliens in the United States; 

• Sections 208(d)(1) and (d)(5)(B) of the INA authorize the Secretary to establish regulations concerning the procedures and conditions on asylum applications; • Section 101(b)(1)(F) of the Homeland Security Act (HSA) establishes as a primary mission of DHS the duty to “ensure that the overall economic security of the United States is not diminished by efforts, activities, and programs aimed at securing the homeland;” and 

• Section 271(a)(3) of the HSA confers authority on the Director of USCIS to establish “policies for performing [immigration adjudication] functions.” 

Section 208(d)(2) of the INA clearly provides the Secretary discretion to grant employment authorization to applicants for asylum if 180 days have passed since filing an application for asylum. Congress intended to ensure that asylum seekers were applying for the right reason, not to just gain a work permit until their claims were heard.  

NumbersUSA Supports Several Key Provisions in the NPRM 

NumbersUSA strongly supports many of the provisions in the proposed regulation, including the ability of USCIS to pause and no longer accept new applications for asylum work permits when the processing times for asylum applications exceed 180 days. We also strongly support making certain aliens ineligible for employment authorization if they entered or attempted to enter the United States illegally, evading inspection at the border. Further, we support making an alien ineligible for a work permit (based on their asylum claim) if the person is likely to be barred from asylum and denied their claim due to criminal grounds.  

As stated above, Congress was concerned that employment authorization documents would be a magnet for illegal immigration, thus requiring aliens to wait at least 180 days to apply for the documents. We support the agency’s proposal to require asylum seekers to wait 365 days before applying for employment authorization.  

NumbersUSA also supports requiring applicants to appear in person to submit biometrics, and if they fail to appear, their application should be denied. We also strongly believe that employment authorizations should expire when and if an alien’s claim for asylum has been denied – meaning, they should not be able to continue working in the country despite their denial, as is currently the case.  

These changes are necessary because we must reduce the incentive to illegally come to the United States, and the changes will deter aliens from filing frivolous and meritless claims of asylum. The NPRM will ensure that criminals, other bad actors, and those who evaded border patrol and who frivolously claim asylum are not entitled to the benefit of a work permit. It will require foreign nationals to wait longer to obtain a work permit after filing for asylum, reducing the likelihood that they file asylum simply to obtain the  benefit.  

NumbersUSA agrees with USCIS that “the overarching goals of this proposed rulemaking are to enhance the benefit integrity of requests for asylum and employment authorization based on a pending asylum application, address national security and public safety concerns, and mitigate undue strains on DHS’s operational resources by reducing the incentive for aliens to file frivolous, fraudulent, or otherwise meritless asylum applications as a means to obtain employment authorization, and thereby facilitating faster and more efficient adjudications of meritorious asylum claims and  pending asylum employment authorization applications.” 

It bears repeating – the asylum caseload is unsustainable. This rule would provide a pause so that the government can adequately vet those in the queue and stop the caseload from growing. It will help restore integrity into our asylum system, which to date, has been generous and allowed illegal aliens to skirt the rules and undermine our legal immigration system. 

Recommendations to Make the Rule Stronger 

While NumbersUSA strongly supports the changes being proposed, we do offer recommendations to improve and strengthen the policies related to employment authorization documents for asylum seekers. 

We would support a pause on all employment authorization applications for asylum seekers if the processing time exceeds 60 days (rather than the 180 days proposed in the rule). The agency needs to slow down and thoroughly vet every application, and a pause will help in this effort.  

We appreciate the administration’s desire to make sure asylum applicants are seeking refuge for the right reasons, rather than simply coming to work in the United States. Until the caseload of asylum applications are manageable and applicants can be properly vetted, we recommend that the final rule require asylum seekers to wait at least 12 months, if not more, before applying for employment authorization, rather than the current waiting period of 180 days. Further, asylum employment authorization documents should not be valid for longer than six months in order for the agency to properly re-screen the aliens seeking asylum and living in the country.  

We urge the agency to require asylum seekers appear in person and be interviewed before being granted employment authorization. While asylum applicants have an interview on their claims, this additional in-person requirement would strengthen the system so that work permits are not simply granted for having a pending case.  

In the final rule, USCIS should also consider enhancing bars on employment authorization documents to certain asylum seekers. For example, an alien should be ineligible for employment authorization if they overstay or violate the terms of any immigration program, including visas they may have previously held. This should be in addition to those who enter illegally or not at a port of entry, as proposed under the new rule. Additionally, asylum employment authorization documents should not be granted for aliens who seek asylum and at any point, returned to their home country from which they claim they fear persecution. If they travel outside the United States, they are not committed to our country and likely have a frivolous claim.  

Finally, USCIS should eliminate altogether the self-imposed deadline established by the agency to adjudicate applications for employment authorization. The agency should eliminate the “clock” – whether it’s 30 days or 180 days – to ensure that adjudicators do not feel compelled to approve or make decisions in haste.  

Conclusion 

We support USCIS’ proposed regulation to reform the process and eligibility requirements for asylum seekers to obtain employment authorization when in the United States. For too long, our immigration system and our country’s generosity have been abused, allowing millions of illegal aliens to claim asylum and obtain work permits to live freely in the United States. Congress intended to ensure that asylum seekers were applying for refuge in our country for the right reason, not to just gain a work permit until their claims were heard. Yet, the system has been flooded and the government cannot adequately screen and vet the millions of people seeking asylum. 

We agree that new regulations are needed to reduce the incentive to file frivolous, fraudulent, or otherwise meritless asylum claims. And, we agree, as stated in the NPRM, that the rule would “focus more of its finite resources on reviewing pending asylum applications, including backlog cases and other pending applications and petitions, and allow our asylum system to prioritize those actually seeking refuge from danger.”  

We agree that the government should focus its efforts on reviewing pending cases and to weed out bad actors and those who have been denied asylum under their due process. Simply put, it’s time to pause and stop illegal aliens from abusing the asylum system. 

We appreciate the opportunity to comment.  

Sincerely, 

Michael Hough 

Co-President and Director of Federal Relations 

NumbersUSA