On November 14th, 2019, the Trump administration published its proposed fee schedule regulation that targets low-income and working class immigrants by effectively pricing them out of citizenship, asylum, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), work permits, and other forms of immigration status and benefits.
If implemented, this rule would:
- Increase citizenship application fees by 83 percent, increasing the N-400 fee from $640 to $1,170;
- Create a $50 fee for filing certain asylum applications and make asylum seekers pay $490 for a work permit;
- Increase the cost of DACA renewals from $495 to $765;
- Eliminate fee waivers for citizenship, lawful permanent residency, employment authorization, and other applications;
- Transfer $112 million in applications fees from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for enforcement purposes, including denaturalization.
Since the fee rule announcement, we responded in opposition swiftly and collectively submitted nearly 30,000 comments! The vast majority of comments received were in opposition of the proposed fee rule.
ICYMI: Over the holiday break, NPNA submitted this Final Comment together with our NPNA member organizations, and organized the Mayoral Sign-On Letter Opposing the Proposed Rule led by Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York City, Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago, and Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles together with 48 Mayors and County Executives.
Join our upcoming webinar to hear how the NPNA Family Protection Network and its members including the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC), CASA and OneAmerica are responding to the proposed threat of the Trump administration increasing application fees, along with national allies including the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).
Speakers include:
- Diego Iniguez Lopez, Policy and Campaigns Manager, NPNA
- Iván Parra, Director of Services, Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC)
- George Escobar, Chief of Programs and Services, CASA
- Erin Lynum, Associate, Practice and Professionalism Center, AILA
