Legislative Update

The Washington Times reports that House Democrats are planning to fight the fee increase for naturalized citizenship and visas proposed by the Bush Administration.  The fee increases, proposed last month by USCIS, have been criticized by Democrats as hurting immigrants with limited resources, and could force many of them to try entering the U.S. illegally. 

“Many in the immigrant community see the increase for what it is – increasing the cost of the American dream, telling those least fortunate among us they probably need not apply,” said Rep. John Conyers Jr. [MI–D].

The budget of USCIS comes mostly from visa or citizenship fees.  USCIS Director Emilio Gonzales earlier this year rejected a suggestion from Democrats that USCIS funding should come primarily from Congress-allocated funding.  He reasoned that such fixed appropriation would limit his options, while collecting fees allows him flexibility – if more people apply for citizenship, the USCIS gets more fees.  “We’re simply not going to be able to keep up with our workload,” said Mr. Gonzalez.  “We’re going to be suffering from a national security perspective.”

Under the proposed changes, applying for naturalized citizenship would now cost $595, up from $330.  The cost of some complicated biometric applications could potentially jump by more that $1,000.

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DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff has urged Congress not to block the Real ID law, maintaining that he is adamant that the new identification system for every U.S. citizen go into effect on its intended date of May 2008.  “We don’t want to keep kicking the can down the road,” Chertoff told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The Real ID act, even by its proponents, has still met with criticism.  According to the Associated Press, Sen. Susan Collins [ME-R], will sponsor an amendment giving each state time to comply with the Real ID Act.  “It’s been two years since the Real ID Act passed, and yet we don’t have detailed regulations or guidance from the department setting forth the standards that the states are going to have to follow,” Sen. Collins said.

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