Republicans Sneak Staggering Asylum Fee into Budget Bill
In a 116-page reconciliation amendment from Chairman Jim Jordan, Republicans have proposed a whopping $1000 fee for asylum seekers—the first of its kind in U.S. history.
The fee would be no less than $1000, they wrote, and would increase each subsequent year to the amount from the previous rounded to the lowest multiple of ten and multiplied by the percentage increase of the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers year over year starting in 2026. For every year that the case remains pending, the immigrant would be charged an additional fee of no less than $100.
An application Asylum and for Withholding of Removal, known as an I-589, currently costs $0 according to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services fee schedule.
The amendment also proposed a fee of $550 for those applying for employment authorization under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The permits would elapse every six months, making it extremely expensive to work in the U.S. as an immigrant. It previously cost $520 to file an I-765 form by paper, and $470 to file online.
The amendment also proposed a $3,500 fee to sponsor the immigration of an unaccompanied child as 'partial reimbursement to the Federal Government' for its processing and care of the child. The amendment also proposes a $5,000 fee that can be reimbursed at the end of the child's immigration proceedings 'if such sponsor demonstrates that the unaccompanied alien child in the care of such sponsor was not ordered removed in absentia.'
The proposed legislation would balloon upfront fees for sponsoring an immigrant child to a whopping $8,500. Previously, an I-130 petition for an alien relative would cost $675 for paper filing, and $625 for online filing.
The bill also included several provisions that would make defending oneself in immigration court far more expensive. As previously stated, the bill imposed a $100 fee for any continuance past a year, except for 'exceptional circumstances.'
Additionally, it imposes a $1,050 fee for filing a waiver on the grounds of admissibility, or whose application for a waiver is adjudicated. These are waivers used by anyone who is not technically allowed to enter the U.S. for any number of reasons, ranging from health to national security and to prior removals.
The bill also imposes a $900 fee to appeal a decision from the Department of Homeland Security, which currently costs only $110. This fee would not apply to appeals of a bond decision.
These new exorbitant legal fees come as Donald Trump's administration seems adamant on denying immigrants their due process, and attacking U.S. immigration judges, several of whom were fired or placed on leave earlier this month.
Other new fees included a $500 fee to apply for any Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, a $250 visa bond for all nonimmigrant visa applications, and a $1,500 fee for certain nonpermanent residents to apply to adjust a status before an immigration judge. The Trump administration has reportedly stopped weighing green card applications from asylum seekers and refugees altogether, and even moved to detain individuals who petition for them.
In a post on X, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee wrote that they were committed to 'restoring immigration integrity, enhancing national security, and reining in the out-of-control administrative state.'
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