Over the weekend, asylum seekers in New York have been flooded with messages — some from their legal professionals — telling them to pay a $100 charge to the Trump administration by Tuesday or threat deportation.
Moussa, an asylum seeker from Mali who lives in Manhattan, obtained a WhatsApp message from his lawyer’s workplace on Saturday instructing him to pay the charge by Tuesday. “Failure to pay and meet this deadline can and can end in Dismissal of your declare of reduction and potential order of elimination,” the message stated.
Moussa didn’t have $100 readily available — “I simply paid my hire, so I don’t have any cash proper now,” he stated — so he discovered work on Sunday at a small demolition web site to attempt to gather it. Nonetheless, he wasn’t certain whether or not he would have the ability to pull the funds collectively in time. (New York Focus has modified some names on this article to guard individuals with energetic court docket proceedings.)
“If it’s true now and I don’t pay, that’s an issue. But when it’s faux, I’m simply throwing this cash away,” Moussa stated in French, talking on the telephone from the demolition web site. “I’m scared.”
President Donald Trump’s sweeping July finances bundle, the One Huge Stunning Invoice Act, levied new charges on asylum seekers throughout the nation. It mandated that federal immigration businesses gather a one-time $100 charge for brand spanking new asylum functions and an annual $100 charge for pending functions, together with functions submitted since October 1, 2024 that stay pending as of September 30, 2025.
However it’s unclear when and the way candidates ought to pay that annual charge, leaving many panicking amid a surge of rumors and misinformation.
Deborah Lee, lead legal professional on the Authorized Assist Society’s Immigration Legislation Unit, stated the shortage of readability has sparked confusion amongst immigration attorneys and hundreds of asylum seekers.
The cost portal “at present solely appears to permit for paying the preliminary asylum utility charge” and doesn’t account for conditions akin to candidates who’re interesting asylum selections, Lee wrote in an e mail.
The American Immigration Legal professionals Affiliation stated that some immigration judges had set September 30 as a deadline to pay the charge for new functions — though it solely turned potential to pay that charge final week. “For shut to 3 months there was no approach to pay this required charge, with wild variations in how particular person immigration judges addressed this situation,” a spokesperson for the affiliation stated in a press release.
There may be nonetheless no approach to pay the annual charge for pending functions, the spokesperson stated, “so many practitioners are nonetheless involved about functions being dismissed if there isn’t any mechanism set as much as pay that charge…. There are very actual penalties for asylum seekers navigating this fully pointless bureaucratic mess.”
Fallou, a Senegalese asylum seeker who lives in Manhattan, obtained a WhatsApp message on Saturday, forwarded by a buddy, titled “URGENT.”
“In the event you don’t pay earlier than the thirtieth, you threat shedding your case,” the message stated in French.
Fallou tried to pay the charge on-line, however the cost portal crashed when he tried to enter his info, he stated. On the recommendation of his lawyer, he despatched the cash to his buddy over Zelle, and the buddy paid for him beneath the “Preliminary Charge” possibility — though Fallou was not submitting a brand new utility.
“Everyone seems to be saying, ‘Solely three days left,’ and I don’t know what to do,” Fallou stated. “Folks say that the positioning isn’t even completed. We hear numerous issues. Ultimately, you don’t know what’s true or not.”
Some legal professionals have suggested individuals with pending asylum functions to not pay the charge till extra info turns into out there.
Lee, the Authorized Assist legal professional, stated she’d heard studies of notaries “utilizing this confusion to unfold widespread concern amongst noncitizens and cost them exorbitant quantities to purportedly assist them pay these charges.”
After spending practically two years in New York, current arrivals are accustomed to scams from individuals posing as immigration legal professionals and potential employers, and Fallou had thought-about the likelihood that the message he obtained was one in all them.
“I believed, that is too imprecise,” stated Fallou. “However then I believed that perhaps the president is doing this on goal to dismiss numerous circumstances.”
Modou, a Senegalese asylum seeker residing in Brooklyn, obtained an analogous message. He stated he couldn’t inform if it was a rip-off or not — however that he plans to pay the charge, as a result of he can’t afford to threat it. He has a listening to in October and is anxious that his decide will dismiss his case if he’s late on the cost, he stated.
The specter of case dismissal is especially acute for asylum seekers in New York, the place federal immigration enforcement businesses have targeted their efforts to arrest individuals leaving necessary court docket hearings.
On-line teams of current arrivals are at present flooded with questions concerning the $100 charges. Many Senegalese immigrants, for example, get their details about shifting immigration insurance policies from Senegalese TikTok influencers; these accounts, and others from West Africa, have posted movies explaining to followers find out how to pay the $100 charge.
New York Focus contacted the White Home, the Division of Homeland Safety, US Citizenship and Immigration Providers, and the Division of Justice. Just one company responded, and none offered info on what asylum seekers with pending functions ought to do.
Akash Mehta contributed reporting.
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