Boulder County Commissioners support work authorization for immigrants

NEWS RELEASE
BOULDER COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
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Boulder County Commissioner Marta Loachamin has joined bipartisan state and local Latino elected and organizational leaders from around the country in urging President Biden to grant work permits to long-term immigrants, including undocumented spouses and immediate family of United States citizens, Dreamers ineligible for DACA, and long-term workers without a path to legal status.

Commissioner Loachamin endorsed a letter to President Biden from the following Members of the U.S. House of Representatives: Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Adriano Espaillat, and Lou Correa. The letter calls for the President to take the following action:  

• Update the military parole-in-place program for spouses and parents of military personnel to include all U.S. Citizens and their mixed-status families.
• Establish a work permit program dedicated to providing work permits to the 600,000 eligible "Dreamers" under 18 years old who do not qualify for DACA.
• Establish a work permit for long-term workers, critical to building our economy, under the “significant public benefit” provision of the President's administrative parole authority.

“As a nation built by generations of immigrants, we must do better to protect and support the millions of people, who have been working and paying taxes for years, even decades,” said Commissioner Loachamin. “Boulder County stands with legislators and organizations from across the country in calling for President Biden to use the administration’s broad statutory authority to support our immigrant communities by granting access to meaningful work permit programs.”

Implementing these policies would benefit workers nationwide. Legal work permits would further shield immigrants from exploitation and enable them to seek jobs that match their skills, thereby fostering better working conditions. Additionally, granting work permits to long-term immigrant workers could increase annual tax revenue by an estimated $13.8 billion, according to the American Immigration Council.

In Support of Immigrants

In February, Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann, with the backing of Commissioner Claire Levy and Commissioner Marta Loachamin, received near unanimous support at the National Association of Counties (NACo) Annual conference for a resolution calling on the Biden administration to shorten the current waiting period for asylum seekers who are applying for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) (also referred to as a work permit). NACo is comprised of elected officials from across the political spectrum and has over 2,350 member counties, which represent more than 80% of the country's population.

During this year’s legislative session at the Colorado General Assembly, Boulder County supported House Bill 24-1280 Welcome, Reception, & Integration Grant Program, which will provide grants to community-based organizations that provide culturally and linguistically appropriate navigation of services and programs to migrants who are within one year of arrival in the United States. Commissioner Loachamin spoke in support of the bill, noting, “We acknowledge that immigrants bring an abundance of perspectives and skills that too often are not maximized or are not given the opportunity to integrate into a new environment. We appreciate that community-based organizations provide an amazing amount of service for new Americans and this bill will provide needed funding of supportive and uplifting services as migrants make Colorado a new home.”

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