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.
On World Humanitarian Day, the United Nations honored women aid worker for the vital role they play in emergency situations, and the increasing risk female aid workers put themselves in to help others.
Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of New York who co-sponsored the universal background check bill in February slammed President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for the lack of movement on gun reform.
President Trump escalated his war of words with Anthony Scaramucci on Monday, calling the Mooch "highly unstable" in an early morning tweet storm. Scaramucci joined Cheddar to unpack the string of insults and to discuss the coalition of former cabinet members he is assembling to stop Trump in 2020.
Nearly a thousand Twitter accounts were blocked and several Facebook pages taken down on Monday in a coordinated effort by the social media platforms to curb misinformation campaigns spread by the Chinese government against protesters in Hong Kong.
San Jose could become the first city in the U.S. to implement a novel ordinance aimed at curbing gun violence: requiring gun owners to carry liability insurance.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan said on Friday that she will not visit her family in the West Bank due to the conditions required by the Israeli government. The decision follows a reversal by Israel, which first barred her from the country and later granted her entry on humanitarian grounds.
In Srinagar, the capital city of Jammu and Kashmir, over one million people woke up last week to a complete telecommunications blackout. The blackout was mandated by the Indian government, which just hours later would unilaterally strip the disputed territory of its autonomy status.
Recently passed legislation in New York City will track commercial storefronts, giving the city a comprehensive database on building vacancies for the first time ever.
Former two-term Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has officially dropped out of the 2020 race, slimming the Democratic field to just over two-dozen.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Thursday, Aug. 15, 2019.
