President Trump Proposes Charging Asylum-Seekers to Apply

Monica Sanchez | April 30, 2019
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President Trump in a presidential memorandum Monday night requested his administration implement additional measures to address the crisis on the border, including a fee to process applications for asylum.

The Associated Press reports,

As part of the memo, Trump is giving officials 90 days to come up with new regulations to ensure that applications are adjudicated within 180 days of filing, except under exceptional circumstances.

And he is directing officials to begin charging a fee to process asylum and employment authorization applications — which do not currently require payment.

The White House and DHS officials did not immediately respond to questions about how much applicants might be forced to pay, and it is unclear how many families fleeing poverty would be able to afford such a payment.

The memo says the price would not exceed the cost of processing applications, but officials did not immediately provide an estimate for what that might be.

The memo also calls for barring anyone who has entered or attempted to enter the country illegally from receiving a provisional work permit, among other measures.

This comes as immigration enforcement are overwhelmed with an unprecedented influx of migrants at the U.S.-Southern border, with even former President Obama’s DHS secretary admitting that “we are truly in a crisis.” 

(Cover Photo: Flickr - Epoch Times)
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