American dream pushed further out of reach.
By on Jan 31st, 2007 at 4:11 pm
American dream pushed further out of reach.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced that it wants to “raise the application fee for citizenship from $330 to $595 and the fee for becoming a legal permanent resident from $325 to $905.” In 1991, the application fee for legal permanent residents was just $90. NALEO notes that according to “2000 U.S. Census data, about three out offour Mexican and Central American non- citizen households (74%) have annual incomes of less than $25,000.”
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Yes, let’s ensure that only RICH people can afford to come to our country… That’ll really help with illegal immigration reform…
Idiots.
January 31st, 2007 at 4:15 pmThis should help stem the flow of Islamic terrorists coming into this country. I mean, Osama is only a BILLIONAIRE.
January 31st, 2007 at 4:19 pmYes, but that fee is just for those who want to become US citizens legally. Those who come across the Mexican border just steal someone else’s Social Security number and in effect get in the back door to citizenship anyways.
January 31st, 2007 at 4:26 pmA creative way to pay for the war and tax breaks for the rich.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
Just leave $1000 in cash at my feet. Thanks…and um… good luck.
January 31st, 2007 at 4:27 pmThe sad thing is they are charging to seek a dream that dwindles with each passing day of Republican demagoguery, thuggishness, and malfeasance. Our headlong slide into fascist plutocracy (if not fascist theocracy) will ensure that more and more people will compete for an ever smaller share of resources.
January 31st, 2007 at 9:51 pmWE are not allowed to mention the wide open Mexican border on here, allowing millions of people to slip into the US without paying any fees, so I have nothing more to say about this issue.
January 31st, 2007 at 4:56 pmgogreen,
Citizenship is becoming just like American cars, a cheaper product at a higher cost.
January 31st, 2007 at 5:08 pmComment by dlet — January 31, 2007 @ 5:08 pm
You’re right. And they don’t even have to advertise.
January 31st, 2007 at 5:17 pmWhat is going on with posts here? Why the lack of time synch?
January 31st, 2007 at 5:18 pmThis is a bit different, but for Americans or others living overseas who need to have documents notarize,d the US Embassy in every country charges a uniform fee of $55–up from the previous $10–for something that can be done for less than $5 in any city in the United States.
January 31st, 2007 at 5:26 pmThe American dream is pushed out of reach due to Corporations, IE: the Credit card industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the health insurance industry, the bank and lending institutions and the oil corporations, why would any immigrant want to join our club and be hosed for more and delivered less. My American dream is children getting fed properly, educated properly and not considered a consumer group to exploit.
January 31st, 2007 at 6:07 pmFor over a hundred years every legal immigrant has supposed to have enough income (or support) to avoid becoming a public charge. In fact, legal immigrants are supposed to have sponsors. If new, non-asylee legal immigrants can’t afford to pay those fees, then perhaps they won’t make good citizens. Sorry if that’s too much of a blast of reality for some here.
BTW: NALEO is linked to the MexicanGovernment, so TP might want to double-check statements they make on these issues.
January 31st, 2007 at 6:46 pmThis may be the first step to privatizing immagration. It must be a bottom line issue.
January 31st, 2007 at 7:31 pmI’m with gogreen.
January 31st, 2007 at 7:36 pmJust like passports go up. Another tactic to widen the gap. If you’re not rich, you’re poor. Simple as that.
January 31st, 2007 at 7:56 pmAm I the only one who considers a hike of more than 200% over fifteen years — never mind a proposed hike of nearly equal size — in the application costs for permanent residency to be rather extreme to say the least? And am I the only one who suspects that this will only serve to make the illegal immigration problem that much worse if and when people who are working her under a visa have difficulty paying such a high fee and decide to take their chances at overstaying their welcome?
January 31st, 2007 at 8:15 pmThe U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced that it wants to “raise the application fee for citizenship from $330 to $595 and the fee for becoming a legal permanent resident from $325 to $905.â€
If I give up my citizenship, will the government pay me that money?
At this point, it’s starting to look like a bargain.
January 31st, 2007 at 8:22 pmI say double the rate again – we need to crack down on immigration – legal and illegal. There is only so much land in the US – the entire world cannot live here, regardless of the “American Dream’. Indeed, the more who come here, especially those illegally, are doing nothing but dwindle our resources and further strain our economy.
However, I will say that increasing the rate (while a great idea to stem immigration) is only half of the picture. Complementing this measure, illegal immigration needs to be stringently cracked down upon; and to ward off those who will attack me as racist/etc for such a comment – I will note that my sentiment is not geared toward any race – it is geared toward the illegality of what ‘illegal immigrants’ are doing – they are here illegally. And changing the rules to let them stay here ‘legally’ now isn’t going to fix the probblem of illegal immigration – it will only further exacerbate it.
Thus, as I see it – raise the rates for legal immigration (to curb rates), close the borders, and locate and deport all illegal immigrants. Those three things, done together will work miracles for the stability and security (even wrt the ‘war on terror’) of our country..
January 31st, 2007 at 10:01 pmI couldn’t have said it any better Chris. Amen brother!
February 1st, 2007 at 11:29 am….that way, law-abiding working people will be denied entry, while terrorists with money behind them, and crooked businessmen like Chalabi, will still have relatively easy access to the U.S., which has really worked out well for us in the past.
February 1st, 2007 at 1:40 pm