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.
The Federal Reserve says it will keep its key short-term interest rate near zero for the foreseeable future as part of its extraordinary efforts to bolster an economy that is sinking into its worst crisis since the 1930s.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on Wednesday announced the results of a study looking into a potential COVID-19 treatment that it says shows promise.
Julie Menin, director of New York City Census 2020, told Cheddar Wednesday that the pandemic is a stark reminder that the census is important.
Stocks charged higher around the world Wednesday following an encouraging report on a possible treatment for COVID-19.
President Donald Trump will take executive action Tuesday to order meat processing plants to stay open amid concerns over growing coronavirus cases and the impact on the nation’s food supply.
Stocks gave up an early gain on Wall Street and are mixed in afternoon trading Tuesday. The day’s leaderboard looks like nearly the mirror opposite of stocks’ performance through the market’s sell-off this year.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic the high court is, for the first time in its 230-year history, holding arguments by telephone.
Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the non-profit healthcare organization, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, talks about how the pandemic has exposed the harsh inequalities driving poorer health outcomes in the U.S.
Banks trying to submit applications for thousands of small businesses seeking coronavirus relief loans have hit a bottleneck for a second day at the Small Business Administration.
Stocks gave up an early gain on Wall Street and were mixed in late morning trading Tuesday while the price of oil continued its wild ride.
