Friday, July 31, 2020

New Fee for Immigrants Seeking Asylum?!

    There have been many issues and rules regarding immigrants and allowing them to come into the country and deporting them back to their countries. Just recently the Trump administration declared that they are going to charge immigrants a fee for asylum in the US. As I was reading the article on Buzzfeed I saw that they are going to charge these immigrants $50 for asylum. It also states in the article that this new requirement will take place starting in October. The US isn't the first country to have this fee either, there are a couple other countries as well (Australia, Fiji, and Iran). It has been said that the reason for this new rule is because of low funding and the low funding is happening because of the pandemic. 
    As I continued to read I read part of an interview with an asylum police officer saying that "The larger problem is that humanitarian applications by their nature should be free" (Buzzfeed). He also said "The idea of charging people who are fleeing - and not helping if they don't pay up - is disgusting", and I've got to admit, he's very right (Buzzfeed). It's not okay that these people are fleeing and they have to pay just to live somewhere else AND they have to pay for the place they live at including many other bills and fees already, it's just outrageous. It's so wrong of the Trump administration to do something like this to these poor immigrants. 
    Although I believe immigrants shouldn't be charged, do you believe they should get charged? If so why? Do you think the administration did this because they want less immigrants coming into the country or because of the low budgets from this pandemic? If you were an immigrant would you still want to live in the US and pay the fee? Or just go to another country instead?   

1 comment:

  1. I completely agree with you Mia-the fact that it has come down to this is just downright sad. These fees are completely unnecessary, and no person should be subjected into paying them just for a chance to insure their safety. No matter the circumstance, pandemic or not, we should not be asking asylum seekers to pay as part of their ticket into the U.S. In my opinion, they have paid enough in making the journey to the country, and as you’ve stated are already prepared to pay for their cost of living as well-asking for more just seems selfish especially when these people do not have any way of earning the money back upon arrival. In this way, I also believe that the administration is doing this to deter people from applying for asylum.

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