The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues its attacks on lawful immigration pathways by issuing a new proposed rule to hike naturalization fees by approximately 75 percent, raise fees for appeals of denials, and eliminate fee waivers for low-income applicants. Placing such high barriers on naturalization puts citizenship out of reach for many more, especially low-income lawful permanent residents, pricing them out of the ability to vote and fully reunite their families. The proposed rule undermines decades of work across administrations to increase access to citizenship and democratic participation—two of America’s greatest acts of patriotism.

The proposed rule will be open for public comments for 60 days until August 24, 2026. MICA Project is hosting a regulatory resistance power hour over Zoom to inform folks on how immigrants are being priced out of citizenship and how this move aims to decrease representative participation in our democracy, and the how and why you should submit public commentary on this issue.