In perhaps the most courageous move this year, Congressional Republicans have rebooted. The purpose of this legislation is to raise significant barriers for the immigrants that wish to remain in the United States. The party has put the proposed legislation at the top of their agenda. It devotes more than $50 billion just to build a wall along the southern border with Mexico and reinforce barriers at dozens of other locations. This effort is yet another example of Donald Trump’s administration scrambling to lay the groundwork for draconian immigration policies. They are most interested in decreasing the number of immigrants within the country’s borders.
The proposed fee increases attack the most vulnerable immigrants, such as asylum seekers, immigrants seeking work permits, and those applying for humanitarian parole. For example, someone seeking asylum would have to pay an upfront fee of $1,000. Anyone who wants to maintain their asylum applications will have to pay an annual fee of $100. Migrants now face a heavy financial burden from work permits that cost $550. Furthermore, requests for humanitarian parole have a $1,000 application fee.
The bill imposes a $500 fee for abused or neglected children eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. This unreasonable provision shifts an enormous fiscal burden onto at-risk children. Adults involved in immigration cases would have to pay $100 each time they request a continuance from a judge. Now families are left to jump over a big financial hurdle. Unaccompanied minors have to pay $3,500 to partially reimburse the government for the care of an unaccompanied minor and $5,000 in order to guarantee that these minors show up for court hearings.
Moreover, funding for the harsh enforcement of immigrant communities is massive. It notably funds a shocking 45 billion dollars to maintain the status quo in ICE detention facilities while providing $14 billion for deportation operations. This fiscal approach underscores the administration’s determination to pursue a hard-line approach on immigration. It seeks to reduce the number of people who qualify to seek asylum.
This myopic enforcement strategy has faced widespread criticism from civil rights and immigration advocacy groups, who say it affects low-income and immigrant communities the most. Heidi Altman, an advocate in the field, stated, “It’s part of the administration’s assault on humanitarian protections for immigrant communities.” Furthermore, she noted that this bill represents “an entire new way of thinking about fees as a penalty, essentially, for an immigrant status.”
Victoria Maqueda Feldman, another advocacy representative, echoed these concerns by stating that the proposed fees are “essentially a mask for targeted attacks towards some of the most vulnerable immigrants that we currently have going through our legal system right now: asylum seekers, children, survivors of crimes.” She warned that these financial barriers “could amount to a complete barrier to forms of relief,” making it exceedingly difficult for those in need to navigate the immigration system.
The bill’s provisions reflect the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to prioritize the exclusion of asylum seekers from entering the United States. Lawmakers are enacting these fees to further restrict access to refuge in America. They hope to make such steep financial barriers that few will want to make the trip. Altman emphasized the real-world implications of this policy: “In some cases, that would be placing $3,500 between a mother or a father being able to get their child out of government custody and back into their own home.”
As negotiations over the bill continue, advocates—along with some legislators—have growing hopes. It remains to be seen what these proposed changes will mean for immigrant communities, and whether any changes will be made due to widespread backlash. The administration’s resolve to enforce immigration restrictions remains the driving force behind congressional priorities.