WASHINGTON, D.C.-Today, Rhadames Rivera, Vice President of SEIU Healthcare Local 1199 UHE, testified before the House Subcommittee on Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law on the negative impact that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) fee hike will have on the union's immigrant members.  Rivera warned that thousands of immigrant homecare, hospital, nursing home, and other healthcare providers will be priced out of the citizenship application process as a result of the inflated fees.

"Our members work hard to care for some of the most vulnerable members of our society,"began Rivera.  "Yet USCIS's choice to increase fees beyond any other comparable government service fee sends the message that we do not want these critical healthcare workers to participate in our society.  We'll take their work, but we'll deny them access to citizenship-the cornerstone of the American Dream."

Citing the dramatic July 30th fee hike-which raised naturalization fees from $400 to $675-Rivera warned that scheduled appointments for 1199's Citizenship Program already dropped by 50 percent in August. 

"Since families often apply for citizenship at the same time, the resulting $2,025 cost for a family of four is simply insurmountable.  We often learn of workers using vacation pay or even tax refunds to pay for naturalization application fees.  Pricing some of our nation's hardest workers out of their rightful chance to participate fully in U.S. civic life is shameful,"continued Rivera.

"We're moving in the wrong direction as a nation if we turn citizenship into a luxury that is only available to an elite few,"added SEIU Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina.  "Discrimination based on wealth is not an American value.  It's time to roll back this fee hike and stand up for our heritage as an inclusive democracy, and a proud nation of immigrants."  

Today's Congressional testimony follows a federal lawsuit that SEIU filed against USCIS in August for illegally raising immigration fees beyond basic processing costs.  Click here to read Rivera's full testimony, and here to learn more about the federal lawsuit against USCIS.

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