CLASP submitted a public comment in response to USCIS’s proposed changes to the immigration fee schedule. We applauded the agency in keeping important fee waivers and adding new fee exemptions for humanitarian programs but voiced our concern about the harmful impacts of immigration fee increases for low-income and other vulnerable immigrants.

Applicants for immigration benefits are not responsible for the backlogs or USCIS’ financial situation, and they should not carry the burden. Immigrants are not bottomless funding sources that USCIS can plunder to make up for the deficit caused by Congress’s unwillingness to appropriately fund this agency. Further, by financially burdening immigrants who require basic immigration services, USCIS undermines immigrants’ ability to move through the legal immigration process even as President Biden calls for a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those on temporary status, farm workers, and essential workers. For these reasons, CLASP respectfully urges USCIS to withdraw the proposed rule increasing fees.