Asylum seekers face deportation on top of failing to pay new fees – before they are notified

Washington – Late last month, a person arriving home in the US received a post on social media encouraging him to pay the new fee imposed by the Trump Administration before Oct. 1, or something else he puts at risk.

Paula, a 40-year-old from Los Angericas who immigrated to Mexico, whose full name has been withheld for fear of being sent back, applied for asylum in 2021 and her case is now on appeal.

But when Paula tried to pay the $100 fee, she couldn’t find an option on the Immigration Court website that accepted the fee for asylum cases. Afraid of being fired – and just five hours before the payment deadline – he chose the closest approach he could get, $110 to apply before July 7.

He knew it might not be right. However, he felt that it was better to pay something, than nothing, as a show of good faith. Unable to come up with money in that short time, Paula, who works in a warehouse repairing bags, paid the money by credit card.

“I hope the money is not wasted,” he said.

That remains unclear due to confusion and incorrect assumptions surrounding the release of fees or fees for various migration services. The funds are part of the budget President Trueli signed into law in July.

Paula was one of thousands of asylum seekers across the country who gave birth after seeing messages on social media urging them to pay the new fee before the start of the new year in Oct. 1.

But sending government messages for a fee has sometimes been tearful and controversial, immigration advocates said. Some asylum seekers have received notice about the fees, while others have not. Eminform is growing like a migrant as immigrants are scrambling to find out what, and how to pay.

Advocates worry the confusion is serving as a way for immigration officials to dismiss more immigration cases, which will give applicants free rein.

Fees vary. For those seeking shelter, there is a $100 fee for new applications, and an annual fee of $100 for pending applications. The fee for the first work permit is $550 and the renewal of the work permit can be $795.

Amy Grenier, associate director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Assn.

For new Asylum applications, he said, some immigration judges set a payment deadline of September 30, although the immigration review office only updates the payment portal in the last week of September.

“The lack of a coherent structure to pay the fees only results in the ineffectiveness of our immigration courts,” Grenier said. “There are very real consequences for asylum seekers roaming the whole world.”

Two agencies collect the fees: US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), under the Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of the Chief Judicial Review Officer (EOIR), under the Department of Justice, which administers the courts.

Both agencies initially issued separate orders regarding the fees, and only USCIS offered the opportunity to pay.

The Departments of Homeland Security and Justice did not respond to a request for comment. The White House was purged from USCIS.

USCIS spokesman Matthew J. Tragessester said the asylum fees apply in accordance with the law.

“The real losers in this attorney are the dishonest and unqualified immigration attorneys who exploit their clients and attack the system with baseless asylum claims,” ​​she said.

The Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP), a national membership organization earlier this month after thousands of members shared their confusion over the new fee, threatened to cut their full applications. ”

The agency also said the fee should not apply to people whose cases are pending before Trump signs the budget package into law.

At a US District court hearing on Monday, Justice Department lawyers defended the fee, saying, “Congress made clear that the new fee was not excessive and necessary to meet the rising costs of processing millions of impeachment claims.”

Further confusion arose from conflicting information.

A notice by USCIS on July 22 that confused the Federal Bureau of Investigation confused legal practitioners alike because of the reference to Sept. Some thought that the notice meant that September 30 was the deadline for paying the annual shelter fee.

This month, USCIS announced on its website that it will issue personal notices “Notifying Asylum Applicants of when the annual fee is due, how to pay it and the consequences of failure to do so.”

The agency created a payment portal and started sending notifications Oct. 1, recipients will pay within 30 days.

But many asylum seekers are still waiting to be notified by USCIS, according to ASAP, an advocacy organization. Some have received texts or emails from the body telling them to check their USCIS account, while others have resorted to checking their accounts daily.

At that time the executive office of immigration review (EOIR) did not add the process of paying a fee of $100 for suspected cases of asylum – one that Paula had hoped to pay – until Thursday.

Its appeal of Oct

A San Diego immigration attorney, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, said an immigration judge denied his client asylum because the client could pay the new fee, even though there was no way to pay.

The judge issued an order, which was met by the times, that read, “Despite this demand for enforcement, until now, until now the respondents have not submitted evidence that the payment of the annual fee.”

The lawyer called the decision a violation of due process. He said he now plans to appeal to the Board of Immigration, although another increase in money under Trump’s spending package suggested that the cost would be from $110,010. He takes the case pro bono.

Attorneys for the Department of Justice said Monday that Eooir ended the initial inconsistency by updating its position to indicate that USCIS will soon send formal notices to applicants, giving them 30 days to make the payment.

“There was no unreasonable delay here in the implementation of the eoir,” Faring said. “… The record shows several steps had to be completed in Eoir’s process, including contacting USCIS. Regardless, Plaintiff’s application is now successful.”

Immigrants like Paula, a member of ASAP, recently received some validation. In the Court’s announcement, EOIR director Daren Margolin wrote that anyone who has performed anticipatory activities or advance annual asylum payments, “those payments will be applied to Alien credit facilities, as appropriate.”