5. Department of Homeland Security · Notable · Needs Congress
Have Congress reassert control over work authorization eligibility
Printed page 149 5. Department of Homeland Security
“Congress should reassert control of employment authorization, which is subject to rampant regulatory abuse, and limit it to certain categories of legal immigrants and non-immigrants.”
What has happened
- Not started
Congress has not reasserted control over employment authorization eligibility; it has priced it. Section 100003 of the reconciliation act creates employment authorization document fees, codified by DHS on 2026-04-29, and the same rule fixes validity periods — but eligibility categories are still set by regulation, which is precisely the "rampant regulatory abuse" the Quote complains of. Congress in fact declined to intervene in the other direction too: a motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 99, which would have disapproved DHS's rule ending automatic EAD extensions, was rejected 47-50 on 2026-04-29.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
A Requires-Congress ask about who controls employment authorization eligibility.
Searched, in records current to 2026-08-28: presidential documents, final rules, proposed rules and notices in the Federal Register from DHS and its components; bills and public laws in Congress, from congress.gov; White House presidential actions; and federal court dockets (CourtListener), including the bulk snapshot of 1.2 million dockets. No bill limiting employment authorization to specified categories of immigrants and non-immigrants passed either chamber. Congress’s only enacted employment-authorization provision is section 100003 of Public Law 119-21, which sets fees for employment authorization documents.
- Action
- restrict
- Object
- employment authorization eligibility
- ID
- 360