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Federal court blocks changes in Trump administration immigration paperwork fees

2019-12-10T19:29:07.822Z


A federal district court on Monday blocked the changes that the government of President Donald Trump made to the fee waiver process so that his citizenship remains in force.…


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Washington (CNN) - A federal district court on Monday blocked the changes that the Donald Trump government made in the fee waiver process so that immigrant citizenship remains in effect.

The judge issued a nationwide mandate in the case, which is the last court ruling to stop a Trump administration immigration initiative and another legal setback for the way the administration has implemented changes in immigration policies.

In October, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced that they were reviewing their fee waiver request, eliminating a “media test benefit” criteria that was previously used to determine if an applicant could be exempt from the rates At that time, the USCIS said the income levels used to determine local assistance eligibility vary greatly and, therefore, "are not an appropriate criterion."

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(Credit: Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images)

The organizations that filed the lawsuit argued that the agency's new rules would make it more difficult to qualify for a fee waiver and, therefore, "severely restrict naturalization requests," particularly for low-income applicants.

Judge Maxine Chesney in the Northern District of California ruled that the agency did not follow the notification and comment procedures, a decision that "sends the agency back to the drawing board," said attorney Jessica Marsden of Project Democracy, a of the parties that filed the lawsuit that defies the change.

The judge also ruled that the groups that filed the lawsuit had legitimacy to challenge changes in rates, according to Marsden.

The decision means that applicants will be able to reuse the previous form and citizenship applicants who would have been eligible for a fee waiver "will be eligible again," Marsden said.

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Access to naturalization is "the most important thing in the coming months" before the presidential elections, he added. CNN has contacted the USCIS for comments.

The groups also questioned the legality of Ken Cuccinelli's appointment at the agency, but the judge did not rule on that issue on Monday, Marsden said. Cuccinelli, who assumed as interim director at the USCIS in June, now serves as interim deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. At least one other lawsuit is challenging its authority to implement changes in the agency.

Changes to the fee waiver were implemented on December 2, 2019.

The plaintiffs in the case are the City of Seattle and five naturalization legal service providers: Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), California Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), OneAmerica and Self Help for the elderly.

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2019-12-10

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