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 New York Times Magazine's chief national correspondent Mark Leibovich joins The Hive to talk about House Speaker Paul Ryan's ambitions now that the tax reform bill has cleared Congress.
Congress passed the largest overhaul to the American tax code in over three decades. If and when President Trump signs it into law, will Republicans be able to defend the bill, given its low national approval ratings?
Andrew Desiderio, Congressional Reporter for The Daily Beast, talks the GOP's passing of tax reform and the President's scoring his first major legislative win of his administration. We dig into what this means for the future of the GOP as we head into the 2018 and 2020 elections.
It's an early Christmas for Republicans. Tax reform has passed, which means the Obama-era individual mandate has officially been eliminated. Jacqueline Ayers, Director of Legislative Affairs at Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund, joins Cheddar to discuss how the new bill will impact women's health.
Congressman Beto O'Rourke has represented Texas' 16th district since 2012. Now he is seeking out a new job in the Senate. He is running against Republican incumbent and former presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz, and he thinks that he can win.
Congressman O'Rourke is on a mission to visit all 254 counties in Texas to listen to constituents who want to see change in Washington. His Senate campaign has already raised more the Senator Cruz's campaign, and he is not accepting money from any special interests groups or super PACs. The congressman says Ted Cruz's popularity is below that of embattled Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, who is an accused child molester.
Representative O'Rourke is confident he will beat Ted Cruz come November 2018. He views the Tax Bill and other Republican-passed legislation as an opportunity for Democrats to empower voters to get off of the sidelines and get involved with politics. The congressman says his race in Texas is not just important for the state, but critically important for the country.
After a procedural snafu last night, the House officially passed tax reform this morning. Now the bill goes to President Trump's desk to be signed into law.
