Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Trump put a new fee on asylum seekers. Many say they don’t know how to pay.
Politico ^ | 10/21/2025 01:14 PM EDT | Myah Ward

Posted on 10/21/2025 1:42:18 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

The fees, which are new, were part of the GOP’s domestic policy and tax law President Donald Trump signed on July 4, but the administration’s rollout has been plagued by mishaps.

“Congress made clear that these new asylum fees were long overdue and necessary to recover the growing costs of adjudicating the millions of pending asylum applications,” the lawyers wrote.

The Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, a membership organization that serves asylum seekers in the U.S., sued the Trump administration this month after hearing from thousands of members confused by the new asylum policy. The organization filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, arguing that the fees should not apply to those who had cases pending before the president signed the bill into law and that it’s a misread of the legislation.

“We don’t want the annual asylum fee to be used to wrongfully dismiss peoples’ asylum cases, especially since asylum seekers may not know about this fee or have no mechanism to pay it,” said Conchita Cruz, co-founder and co-executive director at ASAP.

Alba, an ASAP member, applied for asylum with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in 2024 after coming to the United States from Honduras. She has not received official notice from the agency about her fee, and as of Monday, is still unable to submit the $100, she said. POLITICO agreed to only use her first name because she fears retribution.

“We have had so much fear, so much anxiety,” said Alba, adding that she is worried she won’t have the cash on hand to pay when the government gives her official notice. “And then you have to be ready to pay at whatever moment [the government] tells you that you have to pay.”

Asylum seekers’ cases are handled by either USCIS or the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. Depending on...

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: aliens; asylum; fees; spammingfr

1 posted on 10/21/2025 1:42:18 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum

How are they paying their coyotes now?


2 posted on 10/21/2025 1:44:40 PM PDT by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum

“she won’t have the cash on hand to pay when the government gives her official notice”

But she had a couple grand to pay Los Coyotes when they smuggled her across the river.


3 posted on 10/21/2025 1:45:16 PM PDT by Regulator (It's fraud, Jim)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum

Here, let me give you my address.

It’s a PO box…


4 posted on 10/21/2025 1:51:53 PM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeMind

I’ll sell you my tiny violin now, ok?


5 posted on 10/21/2025 1:55:58 PM PDT by princess leah ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum
I was really hoping to see Paul McCartney live in concert this month, but I really can’t afford it.

Does Politico have any solutions for me?

6 posted on 10/21/2025 2:05:09 PM PDT by daler
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum

They sure don’t have a problem going home before they were caught though.

Many of these guys go back and forth to Mexico to visit family, some work here, get a bunch of moolah and then go home for good and buy property there at much lower prices.


7 posted on 10/21/2025 2:18:10 PM PDT by Beowulf9
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum

If you can’t afford to asylum, then don’t asylum..


8 posted on 10/21/2025 2:57:07 PM PDT by sonova (No money? You're free to go.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum
“And then you have to be ready to pay at whatever moment [the government] tells you that you have to pay.”
No legal citizens ever have to do anything like that.< /sarcasm >
9 posted on 10/21/2025 4:40:31 PM PDT by lewislynn (If you think Elon Musk is a genius, you haven't seen his "truck".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum

Can I testify at her asylum hearing about why I chose to live in Honduras instead of the US?

How can someone flee a place that is a major expat and tourist destination and claim it is too unsafe? I bet she’s living in a US city that has high crime stats.

EC


10 posted on 10/22/2025 3:07:59 AM PDT by Ex-Con777 (Leftists quote the Constitution like an atheist quotes the Bible)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum

Not 100% pertinent to this thread, but what ever happened to that idea Lutnik and Trump pulled out of their asses to import 600,000 students from China? Is that still a thing?

Inquiring American students want to know.


11 posted on 10/22/2025 3:33:15 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (It's hard not to celebrate the fall of bad people. - Bongino)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson