House Republicans are proposing to charge migrants $1,000 to claim asylum, one of a series of new or increased fees on immigrants seeking to gain legal entry into the United States that is part of their effort to curb immigration and pay for the Trump administration’s border crackdown.
The fees on immigrants are one of several proposals in legislation released on Monday by the House Judiciary Committee to be included in the major domestic policy bill Republicans are putting together to implement President Trump’s domestic agenda.
The application fee would be the first time the United States specifically charged migrants who are seeking asylum, a status meant for people who have been persecuted or fear they will be persecuted in their home country because of their race, religion or nationality. Typically, migrants who claim asylum are released into the United States to wait for court appearances. But a huge backlog in such claims has kept many of those seeking asylum in the country for years, waiting for their cases to be heard. Under the bill, applicants would also pay $100 a year while their application is pending,
The bill would also require a $1,000 fee for most immigrants who are paroled into the United States and a $3,500 fee for those sponsoring children — large sums that could make it more difficult for minors who cross the border alone to be released from federal custody and taken in by family members in the United States.
Asylum seekers and people under temporary protected status — meant to protect them from being sent back to countries facing conflict or natural disasters — would have to pay a $550 fee when applying for authorization to work.
Those fees, likely to be burdensome to many immigrants, would serve as a further deterrent to those considering crossing the border illegally. Such crossings are currently at their lowest level in years.
Though the Republicans’ budget blueprint generally calls for slashing taxes and government spending, it provides for increased funding for immigration enforcement, deportations and border security initiatives.
The plan being considered by the House Judiciary Committee calls for $45 billion to build and expand immigrant detention centers, $8 billion to hire Immigration and Customs Enforcement staff and $1.25 billion to help the Justice Department immigration judges, their staff and their courts.
Portions of many of the new or expanded fees for migrants would be directed toward supporting the new spending.
