Posts Categorized: Resources

During “Second Chance Month” this April, the Civil Rights and Community Action Department is helping our members and other hard-working Americans with prior nonviolent convictions clear their records and register to vote.

Since 2016, the Civil Rights and Community Action Department has partnered with locals and allies to expunge the criminal records of some of our members and other workers in communities free of charge so that they can register to vote and have access to other services, such as affordable housing and education. To date, the UFCW has helped hundreds of people navigate their state’s expungement and sealing laws and clear their records. In 2021, the UFCW formalized an agreement with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) to further assist with our expungement efforts.

The UFCW, along with the NACDL, is cosponsoring an expungement clinic in Cumberland, Md., on Friday, April 5, and you can get more information here. The UFCW and NACDL are also cosponsoring a webinar titled “The Criminalization of Voting: Front-End Community Engagement” on Tuesday, April 30, and you can register here. For more information about Second Chance Month activities and opportunities, visit NACDL – Second Chance Month.

If your local is interested in working with the UFCW International to help people clear their records and register to vote during this important election year, contact Civil Rights and Community Action Department Director LaQuita Honeysucker at lhoneysucker@ufcw.org or Confidential Secretary Ben Cassel at bcassel@ufcw.org.

Starting on April 1, fees will be adjusted for a majority of immigration applications and petitions, including for individuals applying for Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

Fees were updated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) earlier this year to cover the agency’s operational costs and to help adjudicate USCIS immigration and naturalization benefits in a more timely manner. These higher fees will help cover business costs and better avoid future backlogs. The USCIS receives 96 percent of their funding in the form of filing fees and not from taxpayers in the form of congressional funding.

While Congress was able to provide much-needed support for the USICS in 2022 by providing $275 million to reduce backlogs and advance their humanitarian mission, as well as provide additional support for refugee and asylum activities, these new fees can help the agency to keep pace with incoming cases and avoid future backlogs. Current backlogs at the USCIS were described in a 2022 report, which found that immigration filings decreased dramatically due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the agency’s revenue dropped by 40 percent as a result, creating a hiring freeze. The hiring freeze was lifted in March 2021, and the agency is trying to deliver improved services in advance of this new fee schedule. The USCIS is expecting under these new fees to receive an average of $4.42 billion per year.

Here’s what these fee increases mean for different immigration applications and petitions:

•           Individual filers will not see any increases above 26 percent, with many fees increasing well under 26 percent.

•           Fee increases will hold to a low level for naturalization and adoption applications and petitions.

•           Will mitigate higher fees for employers by providing special discounts for nonprofits and small employers.

•           Fee waiver eligibility for low-income and vulnerable populations will be put into permanent law.

•           Will expand fee exemptions for certain humanitarian and other beneficiaries.

•           There will generally be a $50 discount for those who choose USCIS online forms over a paper filing.

To learn more about additional changes included and to see a table breakdown of the new fees based on the type of application or petition click here. Any applications or petitions postmarked on or after April 1 must include the new fees or the USCIS will not accept them.