For people seeking work or an escape to a better life in the United States, it's going to cost about two times the current amount, following a move by the Trump administration to hike fees on various immigration applications.
Michelle Mendez, director of defending vulnerable programs at the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), calls the move an assault on immigration.
"This rule, these fees that have increased will make it extremely difficult for individuals to become legal immigrants, specifically to become naturalized immigrants, to become citizens," Mendez told Cheddar.
The new fees, which are set to be increased in October, will also gravely impact the world's most at-risk populations seeking asylum in the U.S., Mendez added.
"$50 may seem to be a small fee for many of us. We have to understand that asylum seekers leave their countries, they flee their countries with practically nothing," she said.
While news of the increased fees may be looked on as damning, Mendez said the move is on par with the Trump administration's previous moves to eliminate "access to the legal immigration process."
"During the [presidential] campaign, the rhetoric was very much focused on illegal immigration. We knew that that actually meant they were going to attack illegal and legal immigration," she said.
For Mendez, the idea of increasing fees and making the process even more difficult for people who want to become American is a jab at the foundation upon which the country was built.
"When we limit the opportunity for people to be engaged in the process by being citizens, that really undermines our democracy. That really undermines our democratic process," she stated.
New Year celebrations are approaching and across the world there is an urge to party. But the desire to let loose is being countered by the highly transmissible omicron variant.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits was unchanged last week, remaining at a historically low level that reflects the job market’s strong recovery from the coronavirus recession last year.
The Biden administration is extending a student loan moratorium that has allowed tens of millions of Americans to put off debt payments during the pandemic.
President Joe Biden plans to deliver 500 million free COVID-19 tests to Americans, increase support for hospitals and expand the availability of vaccines to confront a winter surge of coronavirus cases driven by the fast-spreading omicron variant.
Former deputy assistant U.S. Secretary of State Joel Rubin joined Cheddar to break down the latest dispute between G7 nations and Russia as its increased military buildup along the Ukrainian border drew stern warnings of "massive consequences" should an invasion occur. "If Putin wants to keep on going further, there will be many tools that the financial system can use against him, and the United States, now, is gathering our allies in a way that is really unprecedented," he said.
Carlo and Baker cover the latest developments after a devastating tornado outbreak over the weekend, plus an eye on Omicron and inflation, and not even Spielberg can save the box office.
