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.
This Changes Things: Advice for the executives and leaders of tomorrow, brought to you by American Express OPEN. On Between Bells: All the president's tweets, Black Panther's box office record, and more. With The Young Turks, The Daily Caller, Hollywood Life, and Fast Company.
Diversity in America: it's a story of slow progress beginning with the Civil Rights Movement that continues to this day. Two events that set these changes into motion were the protests at San Francisco State and Cornell University in the late sixties. The new documentary "Agents of Change" looks at how the strikes have impacted America 50 years later.
President Trump has signaled that he may be open to improvements to the federal background check system following the Stoneman Douglas shooting. The Young Turks' Emma Vigeland and Daily Caller's Nick Givas discuss the likelihood that things change this time around.
The RNC spokeswoman says Republicans are willing to look into tighter regulations and that even politicians who receive donations from the NRA want to "make sure this never happens again."
Saadia Zahidi, author of "Fifty Million Rising", says Saudi Arabia now has about half a million women in the workforce. She says governments need to realize how much market power this group has and what they can do to foster that talent.
CRTV's Nate Madden and Eric Boehm from Reason Magazine discuss the student survivors from the Parkland shooting who emerged this weekend as activists in the fight for gun reform.
Billionaire Tom Steyer is putting his personal fortune behind an effort to get President Trump out of office. Special counsel Robert Mueller has indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for allegedly meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Coinbase users took to social media and Reddit to complain about glitches on the platform. Coinbase says the root of the problem is credit card processing managed by Visa. But, Visa says they didn't cause the problem.
The FBI is admitting that it failed to investigate the shooter who killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida this week. Now, Florida Governor Rick Scott is calling on FBI Director Christopher Wray's resignation. Axios Reporter Stef Kight explains the implications of these findings.
Billionaire Tom Steyer is putting his personal fortune behind an effort to get President Trump out of office. The "Need to Impeach" initiative started with a YouTube video, and now more than 4.7 Million people have signed its petition. Tom Steyer, Founder and President of "Need to Impeach," explains how he is trying to influence the political landscape.
The billionaire and former hedge fund manager questions the president's response to news that Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russian nationals. Steyer, who's launched a "Need to Impeach" campaign, wants to know what Trump is hiding.
