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A ‘big, beautiful' disaster for immigrant families

A ‘big, beautiful' disaster for immigrant families

Boston Globe11-07-2025
Among the law's most alarming provisions:
It doesn't stop there. The bill imposes
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Appeals of immigration decisions now cost $900, up from $110. For many immigrants, these fees represent an 'unaffordable price tag on due process,' Heidi Altman, vice president of policy at the National Immigration Law Center,
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Then there's
'The Big Ugly Bill is incredibly irresponsible,' Héctor Sánchez Barba, president and CEO of Mi Familia Vota, a Latino advocacy organization,
The sweeping law, which also includes
What this law enshrines is not reform but punishment — it's criminalizing immigration to the fullest extent possible, monetizing some legal rights, and prioritizing cruelty over common sense. It is a legislative embodiment of Trumpism: performative and punitive.
For immigrant families, the 'big, beautiful' promise has revealed its true face, and it surely is an ugly one.
This is an excerpt from
, a Globe Opinion newsletter from columnist Marcela García.
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Marcela García is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at
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