Story at a glance
- The federal government could give immigrant families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border close to $1 million.
- Discussions are ongoing and would be part of a settlement package for multiple lawsuits the federal government is facing.
- The Office of the Inspector General previously found the Trump administration’s Department of Justice unprepared to manage and implement its zero tolerance policy.
The Biden administration could pay out up to $1 billion to immigrant families that were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border during the Trump administration.
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According to The Wall Street Journal, the departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services could end up paying out close to $1 million per immigrant family that was separated at the border. Sources told the Journal that around $450,000 a person is being considered, but that figure could change depending on each family’s circumstances.
Discussions of payouts have taken place over the course of the past few months between lawyers representing immigrant families that are suing the federal government and the government’s own lawyers, according to the Journal. Some government lawyers apparently viewed the payout amounts as excessive.
Margo Schlanger, a Homeland Security officer for civil rights and civil liberties during the Obama administration, told the Journal, “Damage class actions in this kind of case are pretty rare, it’s hard to think of a recent comparison.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is representing multiple families in a lawsuit over the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy. In January, it issued a statement urging the incoming Biden administration to act quickly on the issue.
“The incoming administration must reunite the separated families in the United States, but we cannot stop there. These families deserve citizenship, resources, care, and a commitment that family separation will never happen again.”
The Biden administration created the Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families, and its latest progress report, released in September, confirmed it had reunified 50 children separated from their parents and provided access to behavioral health services. Another 2,171 children have been reunified through a court order and from the efforts of nongovernmental organizations.
However, the same report confirmed 1,727 children have not yet been reunified with their families, accounting for 33 percent of all those identified as separated from their parents by the Homeland Security Department under the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy.
The ACLU is still battling its lawsuit with the Biden administration and according to the Journal, not all the families it’s representing will be eligible for a potential financial settlement.
The Office of the Inspector General conducted a review of the Justice Department’s zero tolerance policy and found that under former attorney general Jeff Sessions, the agency “failed to effectively prepare for, or manage, the implementation of the zero tolerance policy.”
The Yellow House under the worst president ever has struck again. This insane measure might very well seal the fate of the Democrats in any future election. I simply cannot figure out how the Yellow House can sell this preposterously bizarre proposal to the American people. There are millions of American citizens incarcerated and thus separated from their families/children who get zero dollars for this. These immigrants knowingly and willingly broke federal laws as they illegally crossed our borders and now they should get “compensated” by this unlawful behavior with this ludicrous amount per family???
The foolishness of the Biden administration really does not have any bounds or limits.
We will see what will happen at the Virginia gubernatorial elections on Tuesday. I think that this insane idea will give Youngkin a good boost.
We can also see the priorities of the anti-US Biden administration. These foreign nationals could get $450,000 each but if a Navy SeAL dies his family just gets $100,000.
I have cancer. Don’t wonder if i’m no lnger out here. I will fight, but not sure i will win, Frank.
You will beat it Mike, you always win!
Really sorry to hear that, Mike. You are strong. I’m sure that you will beat it. In today’s world, cancer is far from always being deadly.
I should imagine that new shitloads of caravans will be heading up through Mexico and over the border to claim all the goodies available for the next horde of future Democrat voters.
As a small d democrat I can’t sanction a revolution, but somehow America has to extricate itself from this existential threat.
It all began in 1965, with Ted Kennedy’s Immigration and Nationality Act, which made it much easier for feckless third worlders to attain citizenship and more difficult for immigrants from traditional seed countries in Europe.
The Dems fucked up the US demographics even worse than their foul counterparts in the UK; the fucking Labour Party.
WTF?!