This Issue: New rule extends time for foreign guest workers with expired work permits to stay and work in the U.S.

In addition to the tens of thousands of illegal border crossers who are being released with work permits into the interior of the country, the Biden Administration announced this week that it is extending the time that foreign guest workers who apply to renew their visas can stay and work after their visa expires.

Before the change went into effect on Wednesday, foreign guest workers with pending renewal applications could continue to work in the U.S. for up to 6 months after their work authorization expired. But guest workers who file a renewal application on or after May 4 will be able to stay and work in the U.S. for 12 months on top of the original 6 month period for a total of 18 months.

Moreover, work permit applications that are approved by USCIS will go into effect on the date of approval, meaning the time between expiration of the initial work permit and the extension won't count towards their time.

USCIS says the change is necessary because of the enormous backlog of green card and guest worker applications. Of course, one of the contributing factors to the large backlog is the ongoing crisis at the Southern border. USCIS is the only agency that can issue work permits to noncitizens, so it has to process, and is likely prioritizing, work permit requests from illegal border crossers who claim asylum or are paroled by the administration.

Nearly 350,000 foreign guest workers could benefit from the extension.

IS IT LEGAL?

The administration has some legal authority to set the period of time that a noncitizen with a pending application can remain in the country. However, they must go through the federal rulemaking process as established by the Administrative Procedure Act.

But the Biden Administration may have cut corners in finalizing the change. The administration skipped the normal notice and comment period and also ignored requests for meetings with stakeholders. The Center for Immigration Studies was one group that requested a meeting with administration officials to discuss the change.

"This entire regulatory effort is a complete disregard of the Administrative Procedure Act, and they're doing this basically to cover their tracks and avoid accountability for a lot of the policies they've instituted," CIS' Robert Law told the Washington Times.

If a challenge is raised and the courts rule against the administration, it won't be the first time. The courts have also ruled that the Biden Administration skipped steps in the federal rulemaking process in its efforts to institute a moratorium on deportations and to end the Remain in Mexico policy.

NEW JOBS DATA SHOW SIGNS OF HIRING SLOWDOWN

While today's April unemployment report showed strong job growth -- 428,000 jobs added last month -- the deeper data show that hiring could be slowing down.

First, wages for new hires dropped a bit, meaning that employers aren't having to pay new hires as much as they did a few months ago and job seekers are willing to take lower wages.

Second, nearly a half-million working-age people who wanted a job in March gave up on their job search in April. That could signal a slowdown in hiring over the next several months despite continued claims by big business and some Members of Congress of a worker shortage.

Third, new jobs in construction, an indicator of the strength of the job market, slowed compared to past months.

Hopefully, the deeper data will have an impact on House and Senate conferees who will soon begin work on the House-passed America COMPETES Act. That legislation includes increases in both guest worker programs and annual green cards, while the Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness Act (USICA) did not include any immigration provisions. We're pushing for the conference committee to prevent the immigration provisions from making it into the final bill.

CHRIS Chmielenski NumbersUSA Deputy Director