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.
A Ukrainian passenger jet carrying 176 people crashed on Wednesday, just minutes after taking off from the Iranian capital's main airport, turning farmland on the outskirts of Tehran into fields of flaming debris and killing all on board.
Iran struck back at the United States for the killing of a top Iranian general early Wednesday, firing a series of ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops in a major escalation that brought the two longtime foes closer to war.
Debra Wada, vice chair of the National Commission of Military, National and Public Service discussed what Selective Service entails in light of recent interest from the recent killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he has secured the Republican votes needed to start President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial and postpone a decision on witnesses or documents that Democrats want.
The Florida congressman is defending the president's actions in authorizing a drone strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week and told Cheddar the president acted in self-defense.
As tensions continue to rise in the Middle East, Mike Pompeo answered questions from reporters at the State Department.
A stampede broke out Tuesday at a funeral for a top Iranian general killed in a U.S. airstrike, and at least 40 people were killed and more than 200 were injured as thousands thronged the procession, two Iranian news agencies reported.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, January 7, 2020.
Brent oil prices, the international benchmark, hit the $70 mark for the first time in three months and the price of West Texas Intermediate, the American oil benchmark, reached more than $63 a barrel.
In a statement Monday, Bolton, who left the White House in September, says that he has weighed the issues of executive privilege and "concluded that, if the Senate issues a subpoena for my testimony, I am prepared to testify."
