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 president's team is in Detroit as Democratic hopefuls flock to the second primary debates, and it's banking on the economic improvements in the Great Lakes State to help him bring home another victory in 2020.
President Trump may be excluded from the nation’s largest primary election after California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law on Tuesday that would require presidential hopefuls to release their tax returns in order to appear on the ballot.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, July 30, 2019.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, July 30, 2019.
The legislation signed by the N.Y. governor will reduce penalties for possession and expunge existing criminal records for hundreds of thousands of residents.
Laura Gómez sat down with Cheddar to discuss the seventh, and final, season of the hit Netflix series, which sees the character she plays, Blanca Flores, navigate an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.
Michigan Democratic Chairwoman Lavora Barnes encourages presidential hopefuls to take Michigan seriously when it comes to the campaign and not just focus on the early races, like Iowa or New Hampshire.
Residents of Baltimore are working to showcase the best that their hometown has to offer, just days after President Trump attacked Congressman Elijah Cummings and described the city as a "a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess."
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, July 29, 2019.
Chicago-based cannabis company Cresco Labs unveiled a new dispensary and retail cannabis shop concept on Monday. Called Sunnyside, the concept emphasizes health and wellness and aims to create an accessible, immersive retail environment that pushes Cresco along on its mission of creating a nationally-recognizable cannabis brand.
