Key Points
- The Biden Admin. is readying millions in payouts for immigrants separated at the border.
- The ACLU is representing families hoping to received payouts of $450K or more.
- GOP Senators have introduced a bill that blocks payouts for illegal border crossers.
The Biden administration has plans to pay millions of dollars to immigrant families that were separated while attempting to illegally cross the southern border. The GOP is saying no way.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has identified 5,500 children separated at the border under former-President Trump. 940 claims have been filed and the potential payout could be as high as $1 billion dollars.
“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.
Biden ultimately agreed to the payouts, but initially called the idea “garbage.” Now, Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Tom Cotton (R-AK), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will introduce the Protect American Taxpayer Dollars from Illegal Immigration Act.
“Our southern border is a disaster, and President Biden’s failed policies have continued to fuel this ongoing crisis,” Senator Tillis said in a statement. “We are seeing the most illegal immigration this year alone than ever recorded, and now President Biden wants to give illegal immigrants a payout, further rewarding lawlessness and chaos.”
“These $450,000 settlements are an insult to all hard working Americans who will subsequently be funding these large settlements with their hard-earned tax dollars,” he said. “I am proud to work with my colleagues to make sure this doesn’t happen.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell echoed those sentiments.
“While American families are struggling anxiously just to keep pace with President Biden’s inflation, the President now wants to make millionaires out of people who crossed the border illegally. It’s beyond parody,” McConnell said. “Obviously, this would only exacerbate the Democrats’ border crisis and incentivize the riskiest and most dangerous kinds of illegal immigration.”
“It would be unthinkable to pay damages to a burglar who broke into your home for the ‘psychological trauma’ they endured during the crime,” Senator Cotton added.
21 GOP Senators have co-sponsored the bill, including prominent voices Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Lindsey Graham (R-SC),and Rick Scott (R-FL).