US proposes tougher rules on work permits for asylum-seekers

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has proposed to make it tougher for asylum-seekers to obtain permission to work in the United States while their immigration cases are pending.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said Wednesday that a proposed rule would double the time asylum-seekers must wait for a work permit to a year and bar those who crossed a border illegally from applying for the permits at all.

The new rule aims to discourage immigrants who don’t qualify for asylum from seeking it in a backlogged immigration system with hundreds of thousands of pending asylum applications, the agency said.