Federal Judge Rules Against USCIS Fee Increases, Freezing Them In Their Tracks

LOS ANGELES — The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), the largest immigrant rights organization in California, applauds a federal judge’s decision last night to block the Trump administration’s racist wealth test through fee hikes on asylum, green cards, citizenship and other benefits.

But for the judge’s ruling, these changes, would have gone into effect this Friday, along with the elimination of lawful mechanisms to forgive the fees. Immigrants seeking these services would have been irreparably harmed.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White called out the federal government’s faulty math and disjointed logic that disregarded “inconvenient facts” and relied on inaccurate claims about how the hikes would help the troubled U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office. White chastised the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for failing to provide data to justify the extreme price increases and for ignoring the impact they would have on organizations like CHIRLA.

White also backed other courts’ and the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) determination that DHS Acting Secretary Chad Wolf was illegally appointed, and that his proposals are therefore invalid.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit included CHIRLA and seven other leading immigrant rights organizations. Find more information on the lawsuit here.

Please attribute the following statements to Angelica Salas, CHIRLA executive director:

“Once again, a court has exposed the lies that this administration uses to justify racist attacks on immigrants. We appreciate Judge White’s highlighting that the proposed fee increases would lead to separating the families of CHIRLA members and immigrants around the country.”

“The ruling also exposes the half-baked rhetoric this administration is using to sink USCIS through exorbitant fees it cannot collect, in an attempt to fulfill Trump’s pursuit of an enforcement-only agenda toward all immigrants. Now, USCIS can return to doing its job: processing DACA applications, issuing green cards, evaluating asylum cases and helping immigrants become full-fledged American citizens.

“Even though this court found its claims illegitimate, we expect the Trump administration to appeal this ruling. We will be there as well to fight for immigrant families.”