I found this story in the Washington Post about how the fees for naturalization and visas are on the rise. It looks like they increased by 66% in 2007. It might be interesting to see what kind of impact that has had locally. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said the increase would help the the speed of processing the applications, but it looks like that hasn't been the case. Focusing on a few people in the area who are impacted by the change would help us to get a feel for how the process has been altered and humanize the story.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/25/AR2008012502997.html