The Biden administration is reportedly preparing to offer approximately $450,000 to every illegal immigrant that was separated from their family at the border under the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy in 2018.
“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,” the Wall Street Journal continued. “The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents families in one of the lawsuits, has identified about 5,500 children separated at the border over the course of the Trump administration, citing figures provided to it by the government… The total potential payout could be $1 billion or more.”
The report noted that discussions between “a group of dozens of private lawyers representing the families and government lawyers” have “been at times contentious.” For example, “Some government lawyers have viewed the payouts as excessive for people who had violated the law by crossing the border, the people said. One government lawyer threatened to remove his name from the case out of disagreement with the potential settlement offer.”
Former Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf responded to the news on Twitter, writing, “There are no limits to what this Administration will do. Everything they have touched re: border security / immigration is wrong for America. But this may be at the top of the list.”
The news comes as President Biden’s border crisis continues, with Border Patrol reaching 1.66 million arrests of migrants attempting to illegally cross the southern border in the 2021 fiscal year, the highest annual number ever recorded.
