Letter to the Hon. Chad Wolf, Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security - Correa, Cárdenas Condemn DHS For Sabotaging Legal Immigration Process With Excessive Fee Increase

Letter

Dear Acting Secretary Wolf:

We write to express our opposition to the Department of Homeland Security's final rule titled, "U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Fee Schedule and Changes to Certain Other Immigration Benefit Request Requirements" published on August 3, 2020.

For the first time in U.S. history, the Department of Homeland Security is imposing application fees on asylum-seekers, eliminating waivers for low-income applicants, and drastically raising the cost of applying for naturalization. We are aware that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is a primarily fee-based agency that is attempting to recover its operational costs, but it is imperative that the Department of Homeland Security generate additional income without harming immigrant applicants who are already struggling especially during a global pandemic.

In line with USCIS's mission statement of administering the nation's lawful immigration system, safeguarding its integrity and promise by efficiently and fairly adjudicating requests for immigration benefits while protecting Americans, it is our request that immigration benefits remain accessible and fair, regardless of an immigrant's socioeconomic background. It is our concern that the new restrictions on fee waivers will have precisely the opposite effect.

We thank you for your attention to this critical matter and we look forward to your timely response.

Sincerely,

J. Luis Correa

Member of Congress

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