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Expert Not Surprised by Gov. Hochul's Work Permit Decision

November 13, 2023 (1 min read)

Tim Balk, NY Daily News, Nov. 13, 2023

"Gov. Hochul, who had pursued the idea of issuing state-approved work papers to migrants, took the plan off the table Monday, saying she would not have been able to protect New York employers from criminal exposure under federal laws.  “I’m constrained by the law,” Hochul said at a news conference in Midtown Manhattantwo months after she indicated she was looking into the permitting concept. “Pursuing it has led us to the conclusion that I cannot protect employers under this scenario.” ... No state has ever tried to supersede the federal government’s role as the dispenser of work papers, said Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor of immigration law at Cornell University. He said the approach that Hochul described likely would have invited long-running litigation, and would not have helped the state in the short-term."