NEW: The House GOP's reconciliation package would DRAMATICALLY reshape immigration via fees

[In It to Win It]

https://bsky.app/profile/reichlinmelnick.bsky.social/post/3lnvhyqvzqs2j

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
‪@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social‬

🧵NEW: The House GOP's reconciliation package would DRAMATICALLY reshape immigration via fees, and as noted below, undermine judges' contempt powers.

First, one big change would be an $1,000 fee to apply for asylum, plus $550 every 6 months for work permits and $100 for every year the case drags on.

The reconciliation package would also charge anyone who wants to sponsor an unaccompanied child out of an ORR shelter $8,500(!), of which $5,000 would be reimbursed years later if the child was not ordered deported "in absentia" for missing court.

That's a price that would stop nearly all sponsors.

Defending yourself in immigration court would become FAR more expensive.

- $100 fee for ANY continuance (except in "exceptional circumstances)
- $1,050 fee for ANY waiver application
- $900 fee for all appeals except bond (currently $100)
- $1,500 fee for non-LPR cancellation (currently $100)

The bill also imposes two "fees" which are clearly civil monetary penalties, and make no sense when described as a "fee."

- $5,000 "fee" for being ordered deported for missing a court hearing.
- $5,000 "fee" for being an inadmissible alien who is apprehended between ports of entry.

Other new fees would include:

- $500 for any Special Immigrant Juvenile Status application
- $250 reimbursable visa bond for ALL nonimmigrant visa applicants
- $550 for any parole work permit
- $1,500 fee for applying to adjust status to get a green card in front of an immigration judge.

BUT THERE'S MORE: the reconciliation package would ALSO dramatically supersize immigration enforcement through vast sums of money.

The biggest item is $45 BILLION for ICE detention, which, if we presume $4.5 billion/year, would be a 232% annual increase to the current $3.4 detention budget.

The GOP package also has:

- $14.4 billion for ICE Transportation and Removal Ops (current budget $721 million)
- $1.25 billion for immigration court
- $1.32 billion for ICE prosecutors
- $787 for state/local assistance
- $650 million for 287(g) agreements
- $600 million for immigration prosecutions

At the end of the bill, there are two major restrictions on the judiciary and on litigation:

First, the below bans judges from enforcing contempt unless there was an FRCP 65(c) bond (rare in civil rights suits). Obviously aimed to stop Boasberg.

Second, they would bar money damages in settlements.

Okay, have to correct myself here: these costs are actually through the end of FY 2029 (September 2029), NOT a 10-year horizon, so if you annualize it out over FY 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, and 2029, it's actually an additional $9 billion a year, so a 364% increase in the annual detention budget.

BUT THERE'S MORE: the reconciliation package would ALSO dramatically supersize immigration enforcement through vast sums of money.

The biggest item is $45 BILLION for ICE detention, which, if we presume $4.5 billion/year, would be a 232% annual increase to the current $3.4 detention budget.

[Karadeniz]

1. And how does this stop illegal drugs from crossing the border?

[AZJonnie]

2. It doesn't, because immigrants are not the ones carrying them across the border

The vast majority of the time, it's US citizens driving down to Mexico and back, or drugs are stowed away in otherwise legal commercial shipments (usually trucks).