Are Higher Fees for Immigrants a Plan to Stall the Number of Democratic Voters?

http://www.alternet.org/rights/48694/

Are Higher Fees for Immigrants a Plan to Stall the Number of Democratic Voters?

By Rene Ciria-Cruz, New America Media. Posted March 3, 2007.

The Bush administration says it wants to raise immigration fees dramatically to improve services, but some critics see it as an effort to stall the increase in pro-Democratic Party voters.


Is the Bush administration trying to slow down the surge in potential new Democratic voters by tightening access to U.S. citizenship through drastically higher application fees?

"For immigrants, the price of fully participating in our society would rise by 892 percent," says Larisa Casillas, coordinator of the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition in Oakland. She says the citizenship fee "has been raised six times since 1989 when it was only $60."

"The very first thing Emilio Gonzalez said to us during the rollout of the proposed fee increases is that there's absolutely no politics involved," says Crystal Williams, deputy director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association in Washington, D.C.

Williams is willing to give "the benefit of the doubt" to the Bush-appointed director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, but, she says, "the effect of higher fees is to certainly slow down everything."

"Low-wage earning immigrants would have to save up longer to apply," protests Williams, "possibly put off applying for citizenship a year or more."

Agency officials want to raise the U.S. citizenship application fee from $330 to $595, saying more money is needed to improve its operations and services.

Applicants for legal permanent residency--the first step towards naturalization -- would be hit hardest, with the fee rising from the current $325 to $905.

more...