On Thursday, White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that President Biden was “perfectly comfortable” with giving massive payouts to illegal immigrants who were separated from their families at the border under the Trump administration.
“President Biden is calling these reports about the administration paying up to $450,000 to illegal immigrants who are separated from family members ‘garbage.’ He says it’s not going to happen. But the ACLU says that it is. So, who is right?” Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked.
“So, if it saves taxpayer dollars and puts the disastrous history of the previous administration’s use of zero tolerance and family separation behind us, the president is perfectly comfortable with the Department of Justice settling with the individuals and families who are currently in litigation with the U.S. government,” Jean-Pierre replied. “You know, DOJ can obviously speak more to that process. The president was — what he was reacting to was the dollar figure that was mentioned — that you mentioned to him yesterday.”
“As press accounts today indicate — there’s been press accounts on this — DOJ made clear to the plaintiffs that the reported figures are higher than anywhere that a settlement can land,” she continued. “Again, this is a — this is something that the Department of Justice can speak to. I do not have anything more to add to this.”
“But if he’s not okay with $450,000, how much money is he okay giving these illegal immigrants?” Doocy asked.
“This is something that the Department of Justice is going to handle. I just laid out what he was thinking and how this is — the process was moving forward. The DOJ will talk to the specifics of this,” Jean-Pierre said.
“And so what changed, then, from yesterday?” Doocy asked. “You’re saying that he would be ‘perfectly comfortable’ settling with these families who broke the law to come here, but yesterday, he said, ‘That’s not going to happen.’”
“First of all, let’s remember how we got here, how we got to a place where we’re dealing with families being separated. This is coming from the last administration’s cruel, inhuman, immoral — immoral policies against — against just people. It’s separating children from their families — 18-month-olds, 2-year-olds, 5-year-olds from their families.” Jean-Pierre said. “That’s how we got here is because of the last administration. This is what we’re trying to deal with here in this administration. So, let’s be very clear of how we got here and what’s happening.”
It should be noted that the Biden administration has also separated children from their families with the Biden administration overseeing the highest number of children being detained by Border Patrol on record.
“Anything else that you would like to know about this, again, I’ll — I’ll send you to the Department of Justice. I can’t speak to specifics — any more specifics on this,” Jean-Pierre added.
Last week, reports revealed that the Biden administration is intending to give $450,000 per person to some illegal immigrant families.
“The U.S. Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services are considering payments that could amount to close to $1 million a family, though the final numbers could shift,” The Wall Street Journal reported. “Most of the families that crossed the border illegally from Mexico to seek asylum in the U.S. included one parent and one child … many families would likely get smaller payouts, depending on their circumstances.”
