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.
President Donald Trump has pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn, taking direct aim in the final days of his administration at a Russia investigation that he has long insisted was motivated by political bias.
Gripped by the accelerating viral outbreak, the U.S. economy is under pressure from persistent layoffs, diminished income, and nervous consumers, whose spending is needed to drive a recovery from the pandemic.
U.S. consumers increased their spending by a sluggish 0.5% in October, the weakest gain since April when the pandemic first erupted and a sign that Americans remain wary with the virus resurging across the country and threatening the economy.
Bob Pinnegar, president of the National Apartment Association, discusses the impending housing crisis should a stimulus bill fail to materialize quickly.
Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Tuesday, November 25, 2020:
Scottish lawmakers have unanimously passed legislation that will make period products freely available to anyone who needs them.
The General Services Administration has ascertained that President-elect Joe Biden is the “apparent winner” of the Nov. 3 election.
President-elect Joe Biden has chosen former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen to serve as treasury secretary, a pivotal role in which she would help shape and direct his economic policies.
Jennifer Horn, a co-founder of the Lincoln Project and former New Hampshire GOP chair, had sharp words for Republicans for sticking with President Trump.
AstraZeneca reported that its vaccine is 90% effective and cheaper to distribute than vaccines from its competitors. Meanwhile, the U.S. is averaging 1,500 deaths per day according to Johns Hopkins.
