Chicago – The Resurrection Project (TRP) has a new initiative towards attaining work permits for newly arrived immigrants in Chicago during this humanitarian crisis. TRP and partners will work with bilingual staffers provided by the White House, Illinois, and Chicago administrations to conduct legal screenings and assist new immigrants in applying for work authorization. The location of the intake center will not be disclosed to protect the identity of clients.
We will be working with legal service partners to serve between 150 and 300 immigrants per day, provide transportation to the legal clinic for their appointments, and promote legal services in shelters across the city.
“TRP and partners will work to help new immigrants apply for work permits,” said Eréndira Rendón, Vice President of Immigrant Justice at The Resurrection Project. “We believe every immigrant should be able to apply for a work authorization and we’ll continue to advocate for long-term undocumented to also be able to apply.”
Chicago is a welcoming city because we are a city with hundreds of thousands of immigrants and organizations ready to assist. TRP has been working with new arrivals since the first bus arrived at Chicago’s Union Station on August 31, 2022. We urge President Biden and the Administration to continue to support Chicago and all immigrants by extending the parole program to all immigrants and expediting the processing of applications.
While we applaud this announcement and partnership with the Biden Administration that will allow newly arrived immigrants to apply for work permits, we urge the administration to include undocumented workers who continue to work in the shadows and are underpaid and under-employed. We are a nation of immigrants, and work permits should be extended to all immigrants as immigrants have contributed to the nation for decades and are essential to the economic vitality.
How to get involved: Join TRP and thousands of immigrant community members, immigration leaders, and elected officials on Tuesday, November 14 in Washington, D.C., to urge the Biden Administration to extend work permits for all immigrants. Chicago is home to more than 11 million undocumented immigrants working for decades without permits, which makes them vulnerable to exploitation. Work permits are a short-term solution, but the long-term solution is immigration reform. For more information about the Work Permits For All campaign and the Washington, D.C. rally, visit www.workpermitsforall.org.
For more information about The Resurrection Project (TRP), visit www.resurrectionproject.org.
