Day 7 of this fee-on-asylum-seekers series.

The first comment of today’s post is kind of snarky, and it makes me a little happy that snarky made the cut:

“Comment: One commenter stated that USCIS is promising the same inadequate service it has been providing in the past few years and is asking immigrant and refugee families to pay more to not get their applications processed.”

The comment then addresses a fee change schedule under Bush 43 that affirms the asylum seekers shouldn’t be charged.

But DHS, as it has been doing, responds that they’re allowed to charge a fee and that it will help out with the backlog.

While they say that the $50 will offset some costs, we’ve well established that the amount is less than 14% of those costs. Also we’re back to slowing down applicants by charging a fee.

They nod to the snark by acknowledging the delays and by posting that part of the comment.

Skipping down to the next non-repeat, a commenter points out an issue with an asylum-seeker not being able to apply for the work authorization (because there’s a mandatory delay of a year until eligibility to file a work authorization form. Since the person won’t be able to make money legally, illegally performed work could be grounds for deportation.

You know, unless that person is financially stable. In that case, the person totally can take time to hang out for a year without employment.

But DHS has a simple solution: don’t work illegally.

This type of stonewalling is not what we need from our government. This is a cruel response to rational, reasonable discourse. Let’s get this approach out of the Executive Branch in this election.