Legal Aid Society starts GoFundMe campaign to help immigrant families pay filing fees
The Legal Aid Society announced yesterday that it has created a GoFundMe campaign to help immigrant families afford certain filing fees on immigration applications that average about $750 per person.
Previously there was a fee waiver for low-income immigrants, but the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has begun a practice of regularly denying waiver requests, even in cases of victims fleeing domestic violence.
“These application fees come at an enormous price, which for many of our clients is simply insurmountable,” said Hasan Shafiqullah, attorney-in-charge of the Immigration Law Unit at the Legal Aid Society. “The hurdles are even more daunting now that USCIS has begun to indiscriminately reject fee waiver requests, putting many of our clients at immediate risk. Supporting this campaign will help us fight unlawful deportation, unjust detention and to keep families together.”