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.
Suraj Patel, a former Obama campaign staffer, is trying to boost voter turnout in New York's 12th District by collaborating with coffee carts, taking workout classes with voters, and engaging with people on the streets. He's running to unseat 25-year incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney in the Democratic primary next week.
The president on Monday said the U.S. "will not be a migrant camp," responding to concern over families being separated at the southern border. Trump also blamed the situation on the Democrats because he realizes that the emotional images of children at processing centers are "unspinably bad right now," says Republican strategist Rick Wilson.
Google is investing $550 million in Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com. Now, JD.com products will be featured on Google's shopping service. JD.com is China's second largest e-commerce company, just behind Alibaba.
Audi CEO Rupert Stadler was arrested on Monday in Germany. Authorities detained him for fear that he would interfere with the ongoing investigation into Volkswagen over its emissions testing scandal. Volkswagen is the parent company of Audi.
Pressure is mounting on President Trump to end the zero-tolerance immigration policy that's separating children and parents at the border. Mike Allen, executive editor at Axios, weighs in on the controversy.
Both Republicans and Democrats, including two first ladies, are calling on the president to put an end to Attorney General Jeff Sessions' 'zero tolerance' border policy of separating parents and children for unlawfully crossing the border.
A federal judge sent the former Trump campaign chairman to jail on Friday for tampering with witnesses in his upcoming trials. This decision further strains the relationship between the White House and the Justice Department, as the administration considers suspending special counsel Robert Mueller and using presidential pardons. Cheddar's J.D. Durkin gets into the details.
President Trump announced on Friday a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of Chinese exports, punishing the country for "theft of intellectual property and technology." China vowed to retaliate in equal measure, escalating tensions between the world's two largest economies, despite months of negotiations to resolve trade disputes.
The former FBI director "chose to deviate" from established procedures and tainted the impartial reputation of the agency and the Justice Department, the department's Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a scathing report of how Comey handled the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails. Cheddar's J.D. Durkin looks into the details.
Big-time media mergers have renewed a policy debate in Washington over concentrating too much corporate control in a few powerful hands, said Axios tech reporter David McCabe.
The Republican reiterated his cautious approach to legalization, despite momentum for more liberalization in a state with some of the most tolerant cannabis laws in the country.
President Trump's statement that the U.S. is suspending joint military exercises with South Korea as Kim Jong-un considers how to dismantle his nuclear arsenal may cause some anxiety among America's allies, says Martyn Williams, editor of NorthKoreaTech.org.
