President Donald Trump’s administration, on Friday, announced that it is concluding a plan to reduce incentives attached to being an alien to discourage filing of ‘fraudulent’ asylum claims to secure work permits.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) disclosed this in a ‘Notice of Proposed Rulemaking’ published by the agency, stating that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has over 1.4 million pending affirmative asylum claims.

The department added that the figures are more than the population of New Hampshire, noting that applications for employment authorisation based on a pending asylum application have reached historic high and that is straining the USCIS.

Once finalised, the agency said that the proposed rule will reduce the numbers of frivolous asylum applications while stressing that DHS is focusing its resources on reviewing backlog cases to prioritise applicants with genuine seeking “refugee from danger.”

“For too long, a fraudulent asylum claim has been an easy path to working in the United States, overwhelming our immigration system with meritless applications. We are proposing an overhaul of the asylum system to enforce the rules and reduce the backlog we inherited from the prior administration. 

“Aliens are not entitled to work while we process their asylum applications. The Trump administration is strengthening the vetting of asylum applicants and restoring integrity to the asylum and work authorisation processes,” a DHS spokesperson said.