Houston leaders seek work authorization for immigrants

Yolanda Batz walked across the stage at her University of Houston graduation in May and stepped into a future of uncertainty.

With a new nursing degree, the 22-year-old longtime Texas resident has no way to put her skills to use. She is undocumented and currently has no path to citizenship or legal work authorization.

“It’s been difficult, because I know I could apply for anything and maybe already have a job,” said Batz, who emigrated from Guatemala with his parents and younger sister when he was 3 years old. “It’s definitely a waste of potential, because I consider myself American.

Batz is one of approximately 577,000 unauthorized residents in the Houston area, meaning they have no legal status or have a temporary status such as temporary protected status. Providing work permits to these longtime residents is widely supported, but has been blocked in recent years by political polarization around immigration reform. Today, Houston leaders are calling on President Joe Biden to use his executive authority to issue work permits to immigrants who have been in the country for years, including students, people who came to the United States as children and to spouses of American citizens.

“We need President Biden to keep these promises and remember that beyond the economic impact, it is about humanity. These are the lives of the people who are our friends, our family, our loved ones,” said Chris McCarthy, chief of staff to Congresswoman Sylvia R. Garcia. “These are people who want to succeed and be part of our community. »

McCarthy and other leaders, including Houston Hispanic Chamber President and CEO Laura Murillo and Commissioner Adrian Garcia, spoke last week on a panel that discussed work authorization for migrant workers and the potential impact on Houston’s economy.

More than 150 elected officials, including nine representatives from Houston, urged the administration to act quickly on these work authorization issues in a May letter. As Biden enters the final months of his term, his supporters hope he will expand work authorization programs. The president is considering opening the possibility for spouses of U.S. citizens to obtain work permits, Reuters reported in April. His administration also tried to restore the DACA program – but without success.

Economic benefits

Making work permits available should be a no-brainer for Houston residents and businesses, lawmakers and business leaders said during the Rice University panel.

“It is indisputable that this population has been paying taxes and contributing to our economy for decades while withdrawing from our respective governments far less than they contribute,” said keynote speaker Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia . “Imagine how much more they could contribute if they had reasonable access to work authorization. »

Laura Murillo, president and CEO of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, noted that Houston businesses need immigrant workers.

“For businesses, the most important factor right now is finding employees. We get calls from small businesses to big businesses every day,” Murillo said. “We are here. We have the demographics to fill these jobs.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has denied that immigrants have a positive impact on the economy.

“Texas is reducing illegal immigration while creating more jobs and growing our economy much faster than the entire country,” he said in April.

Yet Texas has only 80 workers for every 100 open jobs, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Healthcare is one of the major industries affected. By 2032, the Gulf Coast region is expected to have the largest unmet demand for nurses in the state, more than 40 percent, according to data from Texas Health and Human Services.

From Guatemala to Houston

With work authorization, Batz could help fill this labor shortage. The 22-year-old grew up like many of her peers in Houston, going to Discovery Green Park and eating at Carrabba’s with her family on special occasions. The only difference is that she immigrated with her parents from the Totonicapán indigenous Mayan community in Guatemala’s western highlands in 2005 when her parents were unable to find well-paid work.

Due to the age at which she arrived in the United States, Batz could qualify at age 15 for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program launched by former President Barack Obama in 2012. On estimates that 29,400 Houstonians have DACA, the fourth largest DACA population in the country. the county, according to U.S. government data. But the program has been in limbo since the Trump administration tried to end it in September 2017.

When Batz turned 15 in February 2017, while applications were still open, her parents warned her against applying for DACA for fear of providing so much personal information to the Trump administration. When the Trump administration decided to end the program, new applications were subsequently closed while the courts decided its fate.

When a judge ruled that the administration must accept new applications in 2020, Batz jumped at the chance. She applied, but the process was halted in 2021 when a judge ruled the program was illegal. Current DACA recipients can maintain their status while the case moves through the appeals process, but more than 1.1 million eligible people nationwide, including Batz, are currently ineligible for protections.

Despite the setback, Batz decided to pursue nursing, fueled by her experiences translating doctor’s appointments for her mother when she was just five years old. One day, she hopes to run her own bilingual clinic providing care to underserved rural Texans.

Sometimes in college, his goal seemed within reach. She received a scholarship for Houston nursing students, conducted research on dementia and volunteered as a translator at a clinic. But other times, doors slammed in his face. Internships turned her away because she didn’t have a work permit. When college planned a trip to her home country to work in a clinic, she couldn’t go.

When she graduated, her mother was both proud and sad. “All his friends were talking about where they would work,” said his mother Gladys Tzul. “It’s a shame my daughter can’t do it because I know she’s so good.”

Batz has considered moving to Canada to work as a nurse, but wants to stay in the county where she has lived since she was 3 years old.

“I would love to stay in Texas, work and take care of Texans,” Batz said.

Today, Batz works in the same restaurant as her parents and she hopes for a policy that would allow her to enter the field she studied.

“We have so much to offer, not just to the economy,” Batz said. “That’s what everyone likes to say. They like to make money from us. That’s what they’re losing: money.”

“But we are an essential part of the community,” she added. “If they never come up with a solution that allows everyone to work legally, it’s a loss for the community.”

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