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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
@ReichlinMelnick
Apr 28 • 5 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
NEW: The House GOP's reconciliation package would DRAMATICALLY reshape immigration via fees, and mostly end asylum for the poor.

The bill imposes a $1,000 unwaivable fee to apply for asylum, plus $550 every 6 months for work permits and $100 for every year the case drags on.

🧵 Image
The reconciliation package would also charge anyone sponsoring an unaccompanied child out of an ORR shelter $8,500(!), of which $5,000 would be reimbursable if the child was not ordered deported "in absentia" for missing court.

That's a price that would stop nearly all sponsors. Image
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Defending yourself in immigration court would become FAR more expensive.

- $100 fee for ANY continuance (except in "exceptional circumstances), including continues to get a lawyer.
- $1,050 fee for ANY waiver application
- $900 fee for all appeals except bond (currently $110)
The bill also imposes two "fees" which are clearly civil monetary penalties and make no sense when described as a "fee."

- $5,000 "fee" for being ordered deported for missing a court hearing.
- $5,000 "fee" for being a migrant who is apprehended between ports of entry. Image
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Other new fees would include:

- $500 for any Special Immigrant Juvenile Status application
- $250 visa bond for ALL nonimmigrant visa applicants
- $550 for any parole work permit
- $1,500 fee for applying to adjust status to get a green card in front of an immigration judge.

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More from @ReichlinMelnick

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
Apr 28
BUT THERE'S MORE: the House GOP reconciliation package would ALSO supersize immigration enforcement through vast sums of money.

The biggest item is $45 BILLION for ICE detention through FY2029, which would be a 364% annual increase to the current $3.4 billion detention budget! Image
Another HUGE increase would occur with ICE's Transportation and Removal Operations line item, which would get $14.4 BILLION dollars through FY2029 -- an increase of 400% over the current $721 million budget for the ICE component which is responsible for deportation flights. Image
By contrast, the bill provides the immigration court system just $1.25 billion over five years; a measly 30% increase by comparison.

Other line items include:
- $1.32 billion for ICE prosecutors
- $650 million for 287(g) agreements
- $600 million for immigration prosecutions
Read 4 tweets
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
Apr 26
NEW: In a SCATHING decision, Judge Briones in El Paso absolutely SAVAGED the government over this case, tearing to shreds ICE’s hearsay “evidence” that this husband and wife were in Tren de Aragua as “completely and wholly unsubstantiated” — and ordered their immediate release! CONCLUSION For the reasons stated above, this Court determines it has jurisdiction over the instant matter and Respondents have not demonstrated they have any lawful basis to continue detaining Petitioners Julio Cesar Sanchez Puentes and Luddis Norelia Sanchez Garcia in federal immigration custody. Respondents concede they are not detaining Petitioners under any authority in the Immigration and Nationality Act. Further, Respondents have not set forth sufficient nor adequate evidence that Petitioners are in fact members of Tren de Aragua to warrant an alien enemy designation under the TdA Pr...
This is the first case testing ICE’s allegations that someone was in Tren de Aragua and thus subject to the Alien Enemies Act — and ICE utterly failed the test!

“This Court takes clear offense to Respondents wasting judicial resources to admit to the Court it has no evidence” This Court takes clear offense to Respondents wasting judicial resources to admit to the Court it has no evidence, yet seek to have this Court determine Petitioner Sanchez Puentes is "guilty by association." This Court found no need to even allow closing arguments as to Petitioner Sanchez Puentes at the April 23, 2025 Habeas Corpus Hearing. It is clear as day that Respondents have not demonstrated to this Court by a "preponderance of the evidence", let alone the required "clear, unequivocal, and convincing" evidence that Petitioner Sanchez Puentes is a member o...
Briones didn’t even get to the question of whether the AEA was invoked lawfully — because ICE's hearsay evidence was so weak!

Briones ""The Court would not accept this evidence even in a case where only nominal damages were at stake, let alone what is at stake here." Image
Read 10 tweets
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
Apr 22
NEW: Judge Xinis largely rejects DOJ's opposition to discovery requests in the Abrego Garcia case, accusing the Trump admin of "a willful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations," citing their continued denial to acknowledge what the Supreme Court ordered. Image
Judge Xinis also denies the government's invocation of various privileges, saying the DOJ has "stubbornly refuse[d] to provide any basis" for the invocation of privilege, and says the DOJ has lost the presumption of good faith due to "repeated refusals to meet and confer." Image
Judge Xinis UNLOADS on DOJ, saying that their time of offering only "boilerplate assertions" to justify claims of privilege "ends now."

She gives them 24 hours to assert any final privileges with "required detail" — or forfeit any further assertions of privilege in this case. Image
Read 7 tweets
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
Apr 21
Occam's Razor suggests the Border Patrol agent lied. That's backed up by the fact that one claim made by the agent is provably false; that he was arrested near Nogales. That lie matters because this sworn statement claims he entered the day before, and Nogales is 70 miles south.
Border Patrol's clear lie on a sworn statement that the man was arrested "at or near Nogales, AZ" makes every part of the documentation of his arrest suspect.

In fact, if you read the whole sworn statement, much of it appears to be based off of that lie. Image
This story is less confusing when you realize that Border Patrol agents have been caught fudging these arrest documents MANY times in the past.

Like this case, where DHS argued that a 11-day-old baby told Border Patrol agents she had come here to work.
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Read 9 tweets
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
Apr 18
🚨UPDATE: New evidence filed by the ACLU last night shows that the Trump administration is going forward with more Alien Enemies Act deportations in seeming violation of the Supreme Court's clear command that people be provided a "meaningful" opportunity to seek judicial review. Image
Last night multiple people detained at the Bluebonnet ICE detention center in Texas were handed sheets of paper IN ENGLISH and told by ICE officers that they were required to sign the paper (even if they only spoke Spanish).

These were reportedly "Alien Enemies Act" notices. Image
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One of the people that the Trump administration is seemingly about to deport to El Salvador as an "alien enemy" is an TEENAGER - An 18-year-old who is being accused of being in Tren de Aragua because ICE agents though a picture of a WATER PISTOL on his Facebook was an actual gun! 3. Y.S.M. is a citizen of Venezuela who was born in 2006. He entered the United States in 2022 as an unaccompanied minor. 4. Once in the United States, Y.S.M. reunited with his father I.S.G. and other extended family. I.S.G. filed a timely asylum application and included his son Y.S.M. as a derivative. 5. On March 14, 2025, Y.S.M. was detained by immigration agents, along with other relatives. Y.S.M. was later questioned by immigration and federal agents about a photograph. The agents stated that the photograph, found on Facebook, proved the Y.S.M. was a member of Tren de Aragua and that on...
Read 5 tweets
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
Apr 18
Wow. Diplomatic pressure absolutely worked. Van Hollen got in, met with Mr. Abrego, and becomes the first person to have ANY meeting with any of the people sent to El Salvador on March 15.
It's great that Mr. Abrego was able to connect with his wife. Now the question is, how will the U.S. government facilitate his return, as ordered by the Supreme Court.

And we can't forget the other 237 people sent to El Salvador on March 15, like Andry.
I hope that Senator Van Hollen got some information about the others.

Don't forget, it's now been a month since Andry, Neri, and other Venezuelans were sent to CECOT. All remain imprisoned.
Read 7 tweets

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