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On Monday, the Trump administration quietly published a final rule, effective October 2, that will throw up yet more barriers to legal immigration by making it really expensive. The rule says the goal is “to recover the full operating costs associated with administering” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — the agency that handles applications for immigration benefits. However, the fee hikes are so high that it’s tough to avoid concluding that at least part of the reason is to discourage legal immigration.

Some background: By law, USCIS must assess its fees every two years. Normally, this doesn’t result in a remarkable increase, even though CNN and the American Immigration Council say USCIS has had financial problems for years. Without researching it, I suspect that prior administrations have not disturbed the fees very much because raising them too much would price the target audience — immigrants, who have lower median incomes than native-born Americans — out of the market.

But pricing immigrants out of the market is a goal for the Trump administration. (That includes USCIS acting director Ken Cuccinelli, a guy who once testified before Congress that he is not a white supremacist because that’s a thing that people who are not white supremacists totally need to do!) As a result, they apparently had no difficulty balancing their budget on the backs of the people they allegedly serve.

Here’s a rundown of the fee increases in the August 3 final rule:

• Applying to become a naturalized citizen went to $1,170 from $640, an 83% increase. (Last I checked, they weren’t swearing in new citizens anyway, presumably because immigrants are not generally Donald Trump voters.)
• Applying for a green card — which confers lawful permanent residency and is a necessary step toward citizenship — has been “debundled,” so that applicants have to pay separate fees for each document. This brings the total outlay to $2910 from $1760, a 65% increase.
• For the first time, a fee will apply to asylum benefits. The fee of $50 to apply for asylum might be affordable to middle-class Americans, but probably not to people who are in an ICE immigration jail. And the $550 fee to apply for a work permit is just cruel, since people applying for work permits are by definition not permitted to work.
• USCIS will no longer grant fee waivers for financial hardship unless it’s expressly required by law for the particular benefit the immigrant is applying for. The explanation for this in the Federal Register says DHS “does not agree that individuals will be prevented from filing applications,” because supporting arguments, like facts in general, are optional for some Republicans these days.

There are some eye-popping increases of well over 100% for people in specific situations, but those are the major categories.

They did pull back on two other fees. One was a proposed $275 fee for DACA renewals, which didn’t get implemented because Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf froze fees for DACA renewals the week before the rule was final. That memo also says the program must now be renewed every year instead of every other year, though, so DACA fees are still effectively doubled.

The other fee increase they pulled back was an insane increase of 269% to 492% for historical immigration records, which are mainly useful to genealogists. (In fact, a genealogist first brought this to my attention last year — grazie!) That makes it one of the few fee increases that directly affects native-born citizens, so it got some press coverage, and Mitt Romney sent USCIS a nastygram about it. They’re still hiking the price of a record about 300%, though, so apparently even white people get punished for caring about their roots.

Some of this has implications for the 2020 election; people who might otherwise be naturalized citizens are going to be slow-rolled out of the franchise. But most of it is the white supremacist long game, an attempt to manipulate the racial/national origin composition of the population. If you’re lucky enough to be a native-born citizen, please express your feelings about this by voting in November.

Lorelei Laird is a freelance writer specializing in the law, and the only person you know who still has an “I Believe Anita Hill” bumper sticker. Find her at wordofthelaird.com.

* A cannabis operator has hired a new top lawyer. Wonder if he’s charging $420 an hour… [Law360]

* A new lawsuit alleges that a cruise line held crewmembers against their will and without pay during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. [Fox News]

* An attorney has been suspended from practice for paying clients fake recoveries out of his own pocket. [ABA Journal]

* That Google Plus class-action settlement email many of us got recently was real just in case anyone had doubts. [Fast Company]

* An ex-Walmart employee has filed a lawsuit after allegedly being fired for reporting social distancing violations. [Hill]

* A lawyer who borrowed $440,000 from a litigation funder may now be on the hook for $18 million. Don’t think an attorney can argue he didn’t read the contracts… [Legal Newsline]

Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.

The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), in a statement, said the 51-year-old was designated for providing support to the leadership of the government of Zimbabwe, as well as Sakunda Holdings for being owned or controlled by Tagwirei.

“Tagwirei and other Zimbabwean elites have derailed economic development and harmed the Zimbabwean people through corruption,” said Deputy Secretary Justin G. Muzinich.

“The United States supports the economic well-being of the Zimbabwean people and will target repressive and corrupt acts and graft by Zimbabwean politicians and their financiers.”

OPAC said Tagwirei has utilised his relationships with top government officials to gain state contracts and receive favoured access to hard currency, including U.S. dollars.

“In turn, Tagwirei has provided high priced items, such as expensive cars, to senior-level Zimbabwean government officials. Tagwirei has used a combination of opaque business dealings and his ongoing relationship with President Mnangagwa to grow his business empire dramatically and rake in millions of U.S. dollars,” OPAC said in a statement.

Government audit reports prompted a 2019 parliamentary inquiry into whether public funds were misappropriated, revealing the government had failed to account for about US$3 billion disbursed under the Command Agriculture programme, a state farm subsidy championed by President Mnangagwa and largely financed by Sakunda Holdings.

Tagwirei also recently took over five state-owned gold mines and is linked to a multi-million-dollar tender to supply public transport buses for the state owned bus company, ZUPCO, which he won without going to tender.

The U.S. government said Tagwirei was targeted for his financial links with Mnangagwa and his deputy Constantino Chiwenga, who were slapped with sanctions in March 2003 and November 2005 respectively, and remain on OFAC’s List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons.

Tagwirei “materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, logistical, or technical support for, or goods or services in support of, the government of Zimbabwe, any senior official thereof, or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked” while Sakunda Holdings was designated “for being owned or controlled by, or for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Tagwirei.”

U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said the action on Tagwirei was deliberately time to mark the second-year anniversary of an August 1 crackdown by security forces after Mnangagwa appeared set to claim a controversial election victory in 2018.

“Two years ago, Zimbabwean authorities launched a violent crackdown against citizens who were protesting flawed elections. That same government has yet to hold anyone accountable for the six protesters who were killed that day. To mark the anniversary of their deaths, the United States is taking action to fight corruption in Zimbabwe,” Pompeo said.

He said the United States supports a stable and democratic Zimbabwe, and the measures against Tagwirei “demonstrate to the government and people of Zimbabwe that the United States does not tolerate corruption and will promote accountability for perpetrators of public corruption.”

In Harare, the United States embassy said U.S. targeted sanctions now list 83 individuals and 37 entities.

“Targeted sanctions only restrict trade and travel for those who practice corruption, violate human rights, and undermine democratic institutions,” the embassy said.

Security forces deployed last Friday to block planned opposition protests over corruption and economic hardships.

Mnangagwa blames the opposition, Western sanctions, droughts and the pandemic.

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Corruption thus emerges as one of the reasons why there is an increase in the number of Covid-19 infections and deaths in the country.

Mr. Obert Chinhamo, the Director of ACT-SA urged the police and army to desist from soliciting bribes.

“Anti-corruption activists are reporting that police officers and soldiers are soliciting bribes in exchange for giving a blind eye to violations of the Covid-19 regulations. For instance, in several areas commuter omnibus operators are transporting people along major roads and they bribe their way through police checkpoints. In most cases, these operators will be fully packed violating social distancing. Travellers without travelling permits pay bribes to go wherever they want to go. It is thus not surprising that the number of infections and deaths are increasing. Action must be taken against these police officers and soldiers. Corruption is emerging as one of the factors leading to this increase in infections and deaths” he says

Mr. Chinhamo recommended that the management of the police and army, as well as the Covid-19 Task forces at all levels, should urgently address this issue to avoid unnecessary infections and deaths.

“The management of the police and army, as well as Covid-19 Task forces at all levels, must take urgent action to address this. The activities of police and soldiers on the ground should be monitored and supervised. Failure which all the gains made against the Coronavirus pandemic will be reversed and the country may lose human lives” he adds.

On the 21st day of July 2020,  the same concern was raised and discussed by members of the Kwekwe Covid-19 Taskforce who tasked Sup. Makuni from the ZRP Kwekwe to investigate the issues of pirate commuter omnibus operators, and the mushrooming of shebeens selling alcohol. In April 2020, ACT-SA reported that police and army soldiers in Kwekwe allowed certain bars and restaurants owned by Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) to operate when everyone else had closed.

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Tawanda Muchechiwa who was abducted last week and dumped a few kilometres from his home.

3.0       Highlights
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed Air Commodore Jasper Chimedza as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care.  He takes over from former substantive permanent secretary Dr Agness Mahomva who was appointed Chief Coordinator of the National Response to the Covid-19 pandemic in May this year.  Air Commodore Chimedza is a medical doctor who studied medicine and surgery at the University of Zimbabwe before being attested into the Air Force of Zimbabwe.The appointment of Dr Chimedza comes as striking doctors have vowed to press on with their job boycott despite pleas by President Emmerson Mnangagwa for them to return to work amid revelations that scores of people could be dying in their homes due to lack of medical care. President Mnangagwa pleaded with senior doctors to abandon the strike that began last week during an address at the burial of Agriculture minister Perrance Shiri at the heroes Acre on 31 July. The doctors joined nurses and other health workers, who have been on strike for over a month, as they demanded salaries in foreign currency and provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) to deal with COVID-19 cases.

The strike by the doctors has crippled the health delivery system during a time when the local COVID-19 transmissions have risen in the country, constituting more than 70 per cent of all cases. Bulawayo and Harare remain the worst affected provinces, followed by Matabeleland South and the Midlands provinces. More than 1 200 people have now been infected by COVID-19 in Harare, the new Zimbabwean epicentre, after the dramatic jump in confirmed infections this weekend. Zimbabwe now has 3 921 confirmed cases after its worst two days on record.

There are fears that the number of infected cases will increase as a result of the continued use of illegal entry points along the Limpopo River to access medical treatment and cheap basic commodities and drugs from South Africa by desperate Zimbabweans.  Most Zimbabweans who survived on cross border trading suffered a serious setback following the closure of borders in March, forcing many to illegally cross the borders to restock. Beitbridge East legislator Albert Nguluvhe (ZANU-PF) on Wednesday said most border jumpers were not Beitbridge residents, but came from as far as Chiredzi, Masvingo, Tsholotsho and other places to access cheap food and medication. He said the border jumpers were putting the nation at risk of contracting COVID-19.

Community leaders in Matobo have reacted to the influx of border jumpers from South Africa and Botswana in their areas by banning pregnant women and the elderly from attending funerals while consumption of food at such events is also no longer permitted as part of strategies adopted to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the area. The elderly and pregnant women, as well as people with underlying ailments, are more vulnerable to the deadly pandemic.

The Mashonaland Central Minister of State for Provincial Affairs who is also the chairperson of the Provincial COVID-19 Taskforce Honourable Monicah Mavhunga directed that all Taskforce meetings will now be virtual. This is in line with the Public Service Commission’s circular discouraging face to face meetings.

Midlands State University (MSU) has, due to the surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, suspended final year examinations that were set to start on 3 August. On July 24, Government gave a directive to all tertiary institutions to close and continue conducting lessons through e-learning as part of measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education permanent secretary Professor Fanuel Tagwira cited the surge in COVID-19 cases in the country as the main reason for the directive. This development has affected MSU final semester students in the faculties of Science and Technology, Law, Education and Natural Resources Management and Agriculture.

Essential service workers nationally using ZUPCO buses to report to work have expressed concern over delays at police checkpoints, where some of them have even been allegedly assaulted by soldiers despite producing valid clearance letters. The government last week tightened lockdown regulations following a spike in COVID-19 cases in the country, with police demanding exemption letters from those entering city centres. The essential service workers, most of them in the health sector, said they were being frustrated by police and soldiers at roadblocks. They said each route to the city centre had two to three roadblocks where passengers are made to disembark from the bus and be checked.

The Bulawayo City Health Department has instituted an investigation after claims that dozens of people who attended a lavish and wild birthday party thrown by a city socialite and businessman last month contracted COVID-19. Two people who reportedly attended the party have since died, the second being a close associate of the party organiser who died on Friday, reportedly from COVID-19 complications. The party, which was held on 4 July at a lodge in the affluent suburb of Burnside, has become the talk of the town with some reports alleging that most people who graced the event had contracted COVID-19 disease.

According to the Acting Health and Child Care Minister Professor Amon Murwira, hospitals should neither turn away patients nor demand a COVID-19 certificate before admitting patients, particularly in emergency cases. The exhortation comes after the country has gone through its worst month yet as 61 people succumbed to coronavirus in July alone. Infections rose by 2 564 cases during the same month, raising the spectre of more fatalities. The acting Minister said the Government was engaging hospitals to ensure they provided other life-saving services to avoid unnecessary loss of life.

6.0       Summary of violations
The table below summarises human rights violations documented by the Forum Secretariat and Forum Members from 30 March to 3 August 2020.

Tsitsi Dangarembga, whose latest book “This Mournable Body” has been nominated for a Booker Prize, was bundled into a police truck while holding placards on Friday and charged with breaking the COVID-19 lockdown to hold an illegal gathering.

Bailed pending trial after a night in jail, the 61-year-old said she could not keep quiet while neglect and mismanagement left Zimbabweans unable to afford a decent meal and healthcare.

“These are things that are outside the reach of most Zimbabweans. It’s like the people of Zimbabwe are in a chokehold,” she told Reuters from her home in Harare’s affluent Borrowdale suburb.

“It’s a matter of survival really.”

Security forces deployed on Friday to block planned opposition protests over corruption and economic hardships. Foes say Mnangagwa is behaving like his autocratic predecessor Robert Mugabe and exploiting the coronavirus crisis as cover.

‘WHO IS PAYING YOU?’

Popular anger is high over inflation above 700%, hospital strikes, and shortages of medicines and foreign currency.

Mnangagwa blames the opposition, Western sanctions, droughts and the pandemic. “Dark forces both inside and outside have tampered with our growth and prosperity,” he said in a speech on Tuesday.

Dangarembga said she had been lucky after rights groups said some activists rounded up over Friday’s unrest were abducted and tortured. The government denies that.

“When we got into the (police) truck one of the first thing that happened is I was asked ‘who is paying you?’ I was very outraged by that question,” she recalled.

“What was going through my mind was:’what do we do now? The main thing is not to escalate the situation, we have not done anything wrong so we shouldn’t be frightened’.”

Dangarembga noted that a new hashtag #ZimbabweansLivesMatter was helping focus global attention.

“Trying to change Zimbabwe for the better is going to be a long engagement and we have to strategise,” she said.

Dangarembga’s first novel “Nervous Conditions” was part of Zimbabwe’s school curriculum and won the African section of the Commonwealth Writers Prize in 1989.

She also wrote “Neria”, Zimbabwe’s most successful film.

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We particularly take note of the statements by the Congress of South Africa Trade Unions (COSATU), and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) for taking the bold move in calling out President Mnangagwa and standing in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe at this hour of need and the clarion call for regional bodies like the SADC and the African Union to intervene.

The loud calls show that the Harare administration has been isolated and thus we reiterate our persistent calls to SADC and the African Union to urgently intervene and find a solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe.

As the Crisis Coalition, we urge SADC, the AU and the international community to urgently intervene and call for an all-inclusive national dialogue on Zimbabwe’s future.

We reaffirm that Zimbabwe’s dialogue process must involve all stakeholders. Relegating dialogue to political parties risks producing an elite pact that is in dissonance with the citizen’s interests.

We call upon Zimbabweans from across societal cleavages (political, religious, civic, business and labour) to engage in collective dialogue on the fundamental challenges facing the country and fashion a shared vision that moves the country towards democratization and away from the twin crises of poor governance and illegitimacy.

The dialogue must also involve a national visioning process that has civil society, government, political parties, business, religious groups and labour unions among other critical stakeholders.

The dialogue process should produce a clearly timed roadmap to the demilitarisation of civilian political processes and the restoration of normalcy by focusing on key political, economic and social reforms. In this regard, we call for FULL CONSULTATION of all stakeholders rather than cosmetic processes.

Creating a conducive environment that will allow stakeholders to freely share ideas on transitional alternatives is key in laying the foundations for meaningful dialogue. A conducive environment is a crucial confidence and trust-building step in the national dialogue. Coupled with the creation of an enabling environment, political actors must develop a culture that conforms to the Constitution and comply with rules of the “game” that creates an even playing field. Creating a conducive environment means that Zimbabwe must immediately undertake to:

1. Immediately release all political prisoners, end torture, abductions and enforced disappearances, murder, rape and maiming civilians by the military, state security agents and vigilante groups
2. Decriminalize the work of civic society and end the continued persecution and arbitrary arrests of civic society leaders and trade unionists and release political prisoners.
3. Ensure that peace and human security prevail to allow all stakeholders to freely express their views on the national dialogue process
4. Stop attempts at weakening the Constitution through amendments meant to further interests of individuals.
5. Promote fair media coverage for all stakeholders and allow divergent views to be shared on all media platforms.

To achieve a peaceful and thriving democracy, it is important that civilian life and political processes be devoid of military interference. Demilitarising efforts must focus on the following:

• Full implementation of the Spirit of the Constitution, with particular focus on Section 210.
• Security personnel must be inducted and continuously trained in the fields of domestic and international human rights
• The immediate and unconditional withdrawal of army personnel deployed in the streets of Zimbabwe.

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