Top Republicans are furious over President Biden’s proposal of paying $450,000 per family to families separated at southern border after illegal entry.
The U.S. Justice Department has offered lump sums to settle lawsuits against migrants who claim that the policy caused them psychological damage.
But the very idea has got members of the GOP up in arms over such generous payouts with Minority House Leader Kevin McCarthy declaring the policy to be ‘Pure insanity.’
According to reports, the Biden administration wants to pay $450,000 to illegal immigrants who have knowingly broken the law. It’s a slap to our law-abiding citizen who wakes up, goes to work and pays their taxes,’ he tweeted last Thursday night.
The U.S. Justice Department is negotiating to pay hundreds of thousands of dollar to each parent and child who were separated by Trump-era family splitting at the border.
The Biden Administration say the money would be for those families separated at the US-Mexico border under the Trump administration’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy
Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton called the plans ‘insanity’ and compared the migrants to burglars who broke into homes.
Kevin McCarthy, Minority House Leader, declared the policy to have been ‘pure insanity.
Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton described the plans as “insanity” while comparing the migrants to ‘burglars who broke in to a house’.
It is unthinkable to pay a burglar for breaking into your home due to the ‘psychological trauma’ they suffered during the crime. The Biden administration wants to reward illegal immigrants with up to $450,000 each. Cotton wrote: “Insanity.”
Steve Womack, another Arkansas Rep., agreed with Cotton.
“Insanity.” The ULTIMATE insult to law-abiding citizens is to reward illegal immigrants with hundreds and thousands of taxpayer dollars. President Biden wants to send the IRS to surveil your bank account while cutting checks—with your money—to people who’ve broken our laws,’ Womack said.
Michigan Rep. Tim Wahlberg declared the idea to be ‘pure madness and an insult to hardworking taxpayers,’ while Wisconsin Rep. Bryan Steil was aghast at the proposals.
‘Our border has been open since yesterday, and Biden is now in discussions to pay illegal immigrants $450,000. Steil tweeted, “This is amazing.”
According to court filings in a federal trial in San Diego, approximately 5,500 children were separated from their parents under President Donald Trump’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy. Parents were separated from their children in order to face criminal prosecution for illegally crossing the border.
Rep. Steve Womack was furious at the proposal to hand over hundreds of thousand of dollars to border-crossers
Michigan Rep. Tim Wahlberg declared that the idea was ‘pure madness, and an insult for hardworking taxpayers’
Bryan Steil, a Wisconsin Representative, was shocked by the proposals
Officials from the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services are now considering the payments that could total close to $1 million for two people within the same family, people familiar told the Wall Street Journal.
The potential payout could be as high as $1 billion.
Many were unable to track their belongings properly, resulting in them being separated for a long time. The payments are intended to compensate for what has happened.
Attorneys for the families are also seeking permanent legal status for those who have been separated by the practice of former President Trump’s administration.
After much controversy, a judge stopped the process in June 2018, six days after Trump suspended the process amid international backlash.
Families who illegally crossed into Mexico to seek asylum were subject to the zero-tolerance’ policy. Government investigations revealed that children were not allowed to be held with their parents. This led to families being separated and sometimes without any way to track them down later.
The Biden administration is looking at paying $450,000 per family to families separated at South Border.
Officials from the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services are looking into payments that could reach close to $1million for two people in the same family.
Many families are now allowed into the US interior and asked for a court appearance at a later date. Title 42, the coronavirus health policy, allows some to be deported.
Lawsuits claim that the separated children were kept in poor conditions and often suffered from heat exhaustion, malnutrition, or were kept in freezing cold rooms with little medical care. The families’ lawyers claim that the children suffered severe trauma from the anxiety of not having their parents around.
According to the WSJ they are seeking a range of payments, averaging $3.4million per family.
Under the Biden administration, many families are released into the interior of the US and asked to appear in court at a later date
Some are deported in accordance with Title 42, the coronavirus policy of public health
The Biden administration repeatedly condemned the policy as cruel and inhumane, and promised to reunite families that are still separated.
Earlier this month, Michelle Brane, head of the Family Reunification Task Force, said that the Biden team had only been able to reunite 52 of the over 1,000 families separated under the policy who have not yet found each other.
Brane stated that he estimates that over 1,000 people are still separated. He said this on CBS’ 60 Minutes, Oct. 12. It’s hard to know, as there’s no record.
She continued, “So there’s nowhere you can go to find out who is separated or not.” It is case-by-case detectivework.
The task force is said to be in the process of reuniting another 200.
Reunited families receive a three-year grant for parole that allows them to legally live and work in the US for that time, but not to become citizens.
Both the families’ lawyers and the government’s lawyers have stated that they are currently working on settlements and expect to be done by November.
Some government lawyers are outraged about the payments being discussed, which they consider excessive for people who intentionally violated the law by crossing borders. One government lawyer threatened his removal from the case to protest the possible settlement offer.
One government lawyer stated that the payouts could exceed the amount the government paid to families of 9/11 victims. Another dispute this comparison, pointing out that the 9/11 attacks were not directly caused by the US government. According to the paper, payouts averaged $2million per family and were tax-free.
A record 1.7million families tried to enter the US illegally during the 2021 fiscal, which ended Sept. 30, an increase from the 2000 record of 1.6 million. More than 479,000 families were found, as well as an unusually high number unaccompanied children (147,000).
Other Republicans also condemned it.
“I almost fell out of my chair when this was read to me. I hope this is not the case. This would be an outrage,’ Sen. Lindsey Graham R-S.C.
‘UNACCEPTABLE Report: Biden admin considering payments in the amount of 450k per person for 2 people who crossed the border ILLEGALLY Those amounts are taxpayers dollars. We shouldn’t be paying anything to ppl that break our laws,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote on Twitter.
Joe Biden wants to raise taxes but give $450,000 to illegal aliens. Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) said that Biden “put America last.”
‘Under @POTUS @JoeBiden: Pay more for #gasoline, #groceries, home heating, & everyday living necessities,’ Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, wrote on Twitter.
Joe Biden gave Americans $1300, but he wants to give illegal immigrants $450,000. This is more than the 9/11 victims compensation fund. This is how he wants you to spend your money in the face of rising inflation. Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) wrote this tweet: Priorities
After hearing about these proposals, Republicans were outraged.