Unequal Protection: Reconciliation Bill Will Deny Due Process and Return the Most Vulnerable to Persecution Through Exorbitant Fees to Seek Asylum

A Reconciliation Bill passed by the House of Representatives in May 2025 that is under consideration by the Senate imposes a barrage of cruel and punitive anti-immigrant provisions, including exorbitant fees that will unlawfully shut refugees out of the U.S. asylum process. Among the bill’s provisions are non-waivable fees of at least $1,000 per person to submit an asylum application, a fee of at least $100 for every year that the asylum application remains pending, and a fee of at least $550 for asylum applicants to obtain an initial work permit. The bill also reduces the validity period of asylum application-based work permits to a mere six months (currently five years).

If these provisions are enacted into law, it would be the first time in U.S. history that people would be required to pay a fee to apply for asylum. In recognition of its statutory and treaty obligations to guarantee access to asylum and protect people against wrongful return to persecution or non-refoulement, the United States has made applications for asylum and initial work authorization for asylum applicants free of charge to ensure that vulnerable refugees are able to seek protection and support themselves while their applications for asylum remain pending.[1] Nearly every country in the world that is a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol also makes applications for asylum free of charge.

[1] The first Trump administration published a final rule in 2020 that required USCIS to charge people a $50 fee to apply for asylum, which was met with widespread opposition and enjoined by a federal court before it went into effect.