To be a sanctuary for people from other parts of the world escaping religious, political, ethnic, or economic persecution.

To give new generations of immigrants — like those who came before us — the opportunity to live out the American Dream.

These are essential components of our story as a nation.

Donald Trump and his extremist administration have forsaken that legacy, especially in their treatment of those coming here from Central America and Africa.

Public Citizen is suing to protect asylum seekers and other immigrants from a sinister Trump Administration scheme.

• Our legal team is representing several immigrant rights groups — Ayuda, CASA de Maryland, and Northwest Immigrant Rights Project — in a lawsuit against Trump’s Department of Homeland Security.

• DHS has arbitrarily increased the fees it charges immigrants seeking naturalization, work authorization, and other benefits or protections — by more than 500% in some instances.

• And the agency has all but eliminated fee waivers, even though many of those who seek refuge here fled their homelands with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

• DHS itself estimates that the cost to immigrants could total $1,000,000,000.

• But the agency has not justified its need for so much extra funding or even committed to using it for improved processing of immigration applications.

• DHS is currently run by Chad Wolf — who helped engineer Trump’s inhumane family separation policy in 2018 and has played a key role in the deployment of federal law enforcement forces in Portland and other cities this summer.

• Wolf has not been confirmed by the Senate. As our lawsuit alleges, it is illegal for him to continue running DHS without such confirmation.

All of this will have the effect of discouraging victims of persecution from seeking the refuge our nation once prided itself on providing.

Which of course is what Donald Trump and his adherents intend.

Which is why winning this lawsuit is critical.

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- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
 
 
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