Workplace safeguard voided for refugees
Sessions eliminates 24 Obama-era regulations
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday rescinded a 2011 Justice Department guidance mandating that asylum seekers and refugees have a “right” to work in the United States.
The Obama-era document was included on a list of 24 Justice Department guidances that Sessions scrapped because he said they were “unnecessary, outdated, inconsistent with existing law” or imposed without congressional approval.
The 2011 guidance, which was issued by the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-related Unfair Employment Practices, ensured asylum seekers and refugees were “authorized to work indefinitely” and could obtain Social Security cards “without employment restrictions.”
The guidance also barred employers from demanding Department of Homeland Security-issued immigration documents from refugees and asylum seekers as long as they could present Social Security cards or American driver’s licenses.
Legal aid in L.A.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles on Tuesday approved using a $10 million fund to provide legal help to children separated from their parents at the U.s.-mexico border.
The City Council and county Board of Supervisors voted to expand the LA Justice Fund, created to help immigrants without violent pasts who are facing deportation.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Supervisor Hilda Solis announced creation of the fund in 2016.
Garcetti said in a news release Tuesday that “no child should endure the trauma of being separated from their parents.”
HHS criticizes visits
In Washington, the Trump administration said lawmakers’ visits to migrant children in federal shelters are wasting staff resources that could be used to help connect kids and parents.
In a letter Tuesday to leaders of the Senate and House judiciary committees, the Health and Human Services Department said nearly 500 work hours have been devoted to arranging visits for more than 70 lawmakers.
The letter said, “Many of these hours would otherwise have been spent … verifying parental relationships.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.