The American Immigration Council, the National Immigration Law Center, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher filed a federal lawsuit challenging the first Trump administration’s rule that would drastically increase fees across-the-board in high-stakes immigration proceedings. The rule would immediately deny access to justice for economically disadvantaged individuals seeking a fair day in court.
The fee increase rule was scheduled to take effect January 18, 2021, and would apply when individuals facing deportation submit certain applications, appeals, and motions to the nation’s immigration courts or the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), both of which are overseen by the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), within the Department of Justice. The agency’s fee schedule sought to more than triple the cost to apply for cancellation of removal or suspension of deportation and increase by more than eight times the fee for certain motions to the BIA. The rule also sought to increase the cost of an appeal to $975, nearly a nine-fold increase from the prior fee. In a departure from decades of law and policy, the rule also sought to require asylum seekers to pay an application fee that many will not be able to afford.
The court granted a preliminary injunction on January 18, 2021, blocking nearly all of the rule that would have drastically increased fees in immigration proceedings. All fees were enjoined except for the fee for disciplinary proceedings and the fee for motions to reopen before the immigration court. The judge found that EOIR failed to adequately consider the rule’s impact on non-profit and pro bono legal service providers.
In 2025, Congress raised the fees for immigration court and BIA filings by statute. As of early 2026, because of that law, the cost for filing an appeal to the BIA is $1,030.
On March 30, 2026, the court granted partial summary judgement to plaintiffs, vacating the same fees that it had previously enjoined. The victories in this case have prevented EOIR from raising the fees even further (for example, from $1,030 to $1,895 for an appeal).
The case was filed on behalf of immigrant community organizations Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto (CLSEPA), and Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA).
