The Biden administration is reportedly considering making payments of nearly $450,000 to each person separated from their family at the southern border when they crossed into the country illegally, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The proposed payments would go to immigrant families separated after crossing the southern border to claim asylum in 2017 and 2018 as part of the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy.
The zero-tolerance policy began in May 2018. Under the policy, agents arrested everyone who crossed the border illegally, including those seeking asylum.
Children accompanying adults were separated from their parents and held at a different facility and their cases were dealt with separately.
The payments are part of settlement talks for several lawsuits that claim the U.S. government’s policies under Trump left children with lasting psychological effects.
According to the Journal, the U.S. Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services are in talks to offer each person who had been separated $450,000.
The Journal cites multiple sources close to the discussions.
According to the Journal, most families who have crossed the border are made up of one parent and one child, meaning each family would get $900,000 if the settlement were to go through.
Some 940 families have filed claims against the U.S. government, but it is unclear how many people will be eligible for the settlement.
The total payout for that number of families would be around $1 billion.
Republican Congressional leaders have reacted strongly to the proposal.
Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, tweeted that the proposal means “Democrats are actively encouraging illegal immigration.”
- $450,000 payments
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) October 29, 2021
- Mass amnesty
- Catch and release
- Wall construction canceled
Democrats are actively encouraging illegal immigration.
Don't let them tell you differently.
“I just about fell out of my chair when I read this,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina said. “For the sake of our country, I hope this reporting is in error. This would be an OUTRAGE.”
I just about fell out of my chair when I read this.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) October 28, 2021
For the sake of our country, I hope this reporting is in error.
This would be an OUTRAGE‼️
https://t.co/pQsZXcVvja
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, approximately 5,500 children were separated from their parents after crossing the border in 2017 and 2018.
The ACLU is calling for signatures on a petition directed at the Biden Administration calling for help for those families who were separated after crossing into the United States.
“The Biden administration is correct to provide relief to the children and families affected by the government’s horrific practice of family separation,” ACLU lead attorney Lee Gelernt said in a statement to Forbes. “Their suffering is something they will always live with, and it is a deep moral stain on our country. We need to make it right, and this includes not simply any monetary support, but also a path to remain here. This is what is right and fair.”
The Journal reports that lawyers for the families and the government have told courts they hope to reach a deal by the end of November.
“President Biden has agreed that the family separation policy is a historic moral stain on our nation that must be fully remedied,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s immigrant-rights project and a lead negotiator on one of the lawsuits. “That remedy must include not only meaningful monetary compensation, but a pathway to remain in the country.”
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