by Jason Hopkins
The Trump administration is looking to make deportation orders much more expensive for foreign nationals to reverse by dramatically hiking appeal fees.
The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) announced a proposed rule Thursday to aggressively raise the price tag for appealing a deportation order, with fee hikes ranging in price depending on the type of appeal. One proposal seeks to raise the cost of appealing an immigration judge’s decision by nearly nine times the current cost.
The proposed rule change is the Trump administration’s latest move to escalate enforcement of U.S. immigration laws.
It already costs $100 to $110 to appeal a deportation order handed down by the U.S. immigration court system, depending on the appeal. For example, it costs $110 to file an EOIR-26 to appeal a deportation order by an immigration judge. Under the proposed rule change, this fee would rise to $975.
The other new appeal fees range from $305 to $705. The proposed rule, however, would not affect an alien’s ability to submit fee waiver requests or add any new fees.
EOIR said the fee hikes were needed given rising operating costs.
“The activity-based cost analysis demonstrates that EOIR’s processing costs consistently exceed the assessed fees for these EOIR applications for relief, appeals, and motions. Although EOIR is an appropriated agency, EOIR has determined that it is necessary to update the fees charged for these EOIR forms and motions to more accurately reflect the costs for EOIR’s adjudications of these matters,” the proposal read.
“EOIR’s calculation of fees accordingly factors in both the public interest in ensuring that the immigration courts are accessible to aliens seeking relief and the public interest in ensuring that U.S. taxpayers do not bear a disproportionate burden in funding the immigration system,” it continued.
The last time the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) updated their prices was over three decades ago in 1986.
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Jason Hopkins is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
