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.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned Tuesday that a tentative recovery from the pandemic recession could falter unless the federal government supplies additional economic support.
The Food and Drug Administration has laid out its safety standards for developers of COVID-19 vaccines after the White House blocked their formal release.
President Donald Trump is back at the White House after staging a dramatic return from the military hospital where he has been receiving an unprecedented level of care for COVID-19.
President Donald Trump says he will leave the military hospital and return to the White House Monday evening.
Former Obama officials say that the protocols in place are up to the task of preserving the continuity of the U.S. government in the event President Trump may be incapacitated.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany says she has tested positive for COVID 19 days after President Trump's diagnosis.
Two days after being hospitalized with COVID-19, President Donald Trump declared, “I get it,” in a message to the nation Sunday before briefly leaving the hospital to salute supporters from his motorcade.
President Donald Trump faces “critical” coming days after a “very concerning” period in his fight against COVID-19 at a military hospital, his chief of staff said Saturday — in contrast to a rosier assessment moments earlier by Trump doctors, who took pains not to reveal the president had received supplemental oxygen at the White House before his hospital admission.
President Donald Trump went through a “very concerning” period Friday and faces a “critical” next two days in his fight against COVID-19 at a military hospital, his chief of staff said Saturday — in contrast to a rosier assessment moments earlier by Trump doctors, who took pains not to reveal the president had received supplemental oxygen at the White House before his hospital admission.
President Donald Trump appeared in public Friday evening for first time since testing positive for COVID-19 as he boarded Marine One for what was expected to be a stay of a “few days” at a military hospital.
