Washington, DC: The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund issued the following statement in response to the announcement by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services that a proposed increase in the fees for starting the naturalization process will become effective July 30th:

“The NALEO Educational Fund strongly condemns the exorbitant increase in the fee for naturalization that will be implemented this July 30th by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), because it will put the dream of U.S. citizenship beyond the reach of many of our nation’s newcomers. Under the USCIS’ plan, the fees for starting the naturalization process will soar from $400 to $675, an increase of 69%. The USCIS also intends to raise several other immigration applicant fees as part of its fee hike proposal.  

We are deeply disappointed that the USCIS did not heed the thousands of comments opposing the fee hike, including comments from Members of Congress, refugee and immigrant service and advocacy organizations, public policy groups, state and local governmental entities, educational and other not-for-profit institutions, corporations, and the general public. We also believe that the USCIS should have waited to reach its decision on implementing immigration fee increases until Congress completes its deliberations on comprehensive immigration reform legislation, because the legislation could dramatically change the future workload of the USCIS and the resources available to it.

We now urge Congress and the President to swiftly work for the enactment of the Citizenship Promotion Act of 2007 (CPA), legislation introduced by U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) and U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) which would remove many of the obstacles in the path of legal permanent residents who are eager to become full Americans. The CPA would freeze immigration and naturalization application fees at their current level, and explicitly authorize Congress to appropriate funds to supplement those fees to help cover the type of costs that the USCIS claims are largely responsible for the fee hikes, such as infrastructure investments, capital improvements, and business system upgrades. If the CPA is enacted, and Congress appropriates sufficient funding, the USCIS may be able to reduce the amount of the fee increase or avoid it altogether.

We also urge all eligible legal permanent residents to apply for naturalization before the increase goes into effect. The NALEO Educational Fund is working at the national level in partnership with Univision Communications, Impremedia, the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and the Service Employee International Union (SEIU), and with hundreds of organizations at the local level, to coordinate the ya es hora ¡Ciudadanía! Campaign, an effort to educate legal permanent residents throughout the nation about the opportunities of U.S. citizenship, and to mobilize them to apply for U.S. citizenship. Legal permanent residents with questions about naturalization can contact the ya es hora National Hotline (888-Ve-y-Vota) for information and referrals.

The NALEO Educational Fund will continue to advocate vigorously for remedies that address the fundamental flaws in our nation’s system of financing immigration services. The USCIS is supposed to set fees at a level that it will allow it to recover the costs of processing applications. However, the agency’s exorbitant increase places an unfair burden on hardworking eligible legal permanent residents who wish to become U.S. citizens and participate fully in all our nation has to offer. If they cannot become U.S. citizens because of an unfair fee hike, we may all lose an opportunity to strengthen and revitalize our democracy. The $675 price tag is too high for our newcomers, and ultimately, our whole nation will have to pay the price.”