Challenge to Asylum Application Fees
Last Friday, ASAP filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland challenging USCIS’s and EOIR’s implementation of the annual asylum fee. Last night, ASAP filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to stop USCIS nor EOIR from dismissing or denying asylum applications based on failure to pay the new annual asylum fee.
The case, ASAP v. USCIS, challenges the agencies’ retroactive implementation of the new annual asylum fee established under HR-1 and EOIR’s failure to establish a functional payment mechanism.
USCIS’s and EOIR’s position is that all asylum applicants, including those who sought asylum prior to HR-1’s passage, are subject to the $100 annual asylum fee. But asylum seekers lack information about how to pay, when to pay, or – in the case of EOIR – even a mechanism by which to pay the annual asylum fee.
ASAP filed this lawsuit after hearing from thousands of ASAP members over the last 2 weeks who expressed concern and confusion about the new fee. Much of their confusion arose from the fact that the government chose to apply the law retroactively – and without even making it possible for many asylum seekers to pay. Many ASAP members are worried that their asylum cases could be thrown out due to the government’s chaotic process.
For those interested:
