First of all, they were SUED by the ACLU. This was not some proposed item.
Biden Says Payments to Families Separated at the Mexico Border Are ‘Not Gonna Happen’
President dismisses reports of DOJ talks to settle suits by families separated while illegally crossing border with payments of $450,000 a person
By , and
Nov. 3, 2021 6:01 pm ET
President Biden said Wednesday that the U.S. won’t pay immigrant families separated at the southern border as much as $450,000 a person to settle legal claims related to emotional distress.
Photo: Susan Walsh/Associated Press
WASHINGTON—President Biden said the U.S. wasn’t going to pay immigrant families who were separated at the Mexico border during the Trump administration, throwing into doubt settlements the Justice Department has been negotiating to resolve legal claims by the families.
“That’s not going to happen,” Mr. Biden told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing people familiar with the matter, that officials at the departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services were in talks to pay around $450,000 a person to settle lawsuits filed on behalf of the families, who say they suffered trauma from being separated in 2018 while illegally crossing the border.
The people familiar with the matter have said the talks are ongoing and the final numbers could shift. Most of the families that crossed the border from Mexico to seek asylum in the U.S. included one parent and one child, which could mean payments close to $1 million per family. Many families would likely get smaller payouts, depending on their circumstances, the people said.
A border detention facility in Tornillo, Texas, where staffers led immigrant children in a single-file line between tents in 2018.
Photo: mike blake/Reuters
Asked Wednesday by a reporter whether the prospect of the payments would encourage more migrants to try to cross into the U.S., Mr. Biden said, “If you guys keep sending that garbage out, yeah. But it’s not true.”
The White House referred questions about the president’s remarks to the Justice Department, which said it “will not comment on ongoing litigation.”
“President Biden may not have been fully briefed about the actions of his very own Justice Department as it carefully deliberated and considered the crimes committed against thousands of families separated from their children as an intentional governmental policy,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is involved in the litigation. “But if he follows through on what he said, the president is abandoning a core campaign promise to do justice for the thousands of separated families.”
Republicans have indicated they would make the issue of the payments a line of attack in next year’s midterm elections. Eleven Republican senators on Monday asked Mr. Biden to halt the settlement talks, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called the proposal absurd.
About 940 claims have been filed so far by families that were separated, and government officials aren’t sure how many more will come forward or prove eligible under the potential settlement.
News Alert
Major world and business news, including political events, takeovers.
By pursuing a settlement, the government is seeking to avoid trials that could be even costlier, according to some lawyers who have experience with large-scale cases involving alleged emotional distress.
Democrats have expressed mixed views about the proposed settlement. Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva said earlier this week he believed it was one way to address the wrongs of the Trump era. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, considered one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats, has said he had concerns about the amount of money at stake.
As part of the Republican Trump administration’s so-called zero-tolerance enforcement policy, immigration agents separated thousands of children, ranging from infants to teenagers, from their parents at the southern border in 2018 after they had crossed illegally from Mexico to seek asylum in the U.S.
In some cases, families were forcefully broken up with no provisions to track and later reunite them, government investigations found. The lawsuits allege some of the children suffered from a range of ailments, including heat exhaustion and malnutrition; some were kept in freezing-cold rooms and provided little medical attention.
In his first weeks in office, Mr. Biden pledged to reunite the separated families, describing those actions undertaken by the Trump administration a “moral and national shame.”
Write to Aruna Viswanatha at Aruna.Viswanatha@wsj.com, Sadie Gurman at sadie.gurman@wsj.com and Andrew Restuccia at andrew.restuccia@wsj.com
Biden Says Payments to Families Separated at the Mexico Border Are ‘Not Gonna Happen’
President dismisses reports of DOJ talks to settle suits by families separated while illegally crossing border with payments of $450,000 a person
By , and
Nov. 3, 2021 6:01 pm ET
President Biden said Wednesday that the U.S. won’t pay immigrant families separated at the southern border as much as $450,000 a person to settle legal claims related to emotional distress.
Photo: Susan Walsh/Associated Press
WASHINGTON—President Biden said the U.S. wasn’t going to pay immigrant families who were separated at the Mexico border during the Trump administration, throwing into doubt settlements the Justice Department has been negotiating to resolve legal claims by the families.
“That’s not going to happen,” Mr. Biden told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing people familiar with the matter, that officials at the departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services were in talks to pay around $450,000 a person to settle lawsuits filed on behalf of the families, who say they suffered trauma from being separated in 2018 while illegally crossing the border.
The people familiar with the matter have said the talks are ongoing and the final numbers could shift. Most of the families that crossed the border from Mexico to seek asylum in the U.S. included one parent and one child, which could mean payments close to $1 million per family. Many families would likely get smaller payouts, depending on their circumstances, the people said.
A border detention facility in Tornillo, Texas, where staffers led immigrant children in a single-file line between tents in 2018.
Photo: mike blake/Reuters
Asked Wednesday by a reporter whether the prospect of the payments would encourage more migrants to try to cross into the U.S., Mr. Biden said, “If you guys keep sending that garbage out, yeah. But it’s not true.”
The White House referred questions about the president’s remarks to the Justice Department, which said it “will not comment on ongoing litigation.”
“President Biden may not have been fully briefed about the actions of his very own Justice Department as it carefully deliberated and considered the crimes committed against thousands of families separated from their children as an intentional governmental policy,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is involved in the litigation. “But if he follows through on what he said, the president is abandoning a core campaign promise to do justice for the thousands of separated families.”
Republicans have indicated they would make the issue of the payments a line of attack in next year’s midterm elections. Eleven Republican senators on Monday asked Mr. Biden to halt the settlement talks, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called the proposal absurd.
About 940 claims have been filed so far by families that were separated, and government officials aren’t sure how many more will come forward or prove eligible under the potential settlement.
News Alert
Major world and business news, including political events, takeovers.
By pursuing a settlement, the government is seeking to avoid trials that could be even costlier, according to some lawyers who have experience with large-scale cases involving alleged emotional distress.
Democrats have expressed mixed views about the proposed settlement. Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva said earlier this week he believed it was one way to address the wrongs of the Trump era. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, considered one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats, has said he had concerns about the amount of money at stake.
As part of the Republican Trump administration’s so-called zero-tolerance enforcement policy, immigration agents separated thousands of children, ranging from infants to teenagers, from their parents at the southern border in 2018 after they had crossed illegally from Mexico to seek asylum in the U.S.
In some cases, families were forcefully broken up with no provisions to track and later reunite them, government investigations found. The lawsuits allege some of the children suffered from a range of ailments, including heat exhaustion and malnutrition; some were kept in freezing-cold rooms and provided little medical attention.
In his first weeks in office, Mr. Biden pledged to reunite the separated families, describing those actions undertaken by the Trump administration a “moral and national shame.”
Write to Aruna Viswanatha at Aruna.Viswanatha@wsj.com, Sadie Gurman at sadie.gurman@wsj.com and Andrew Restuccia at andrew.restuccia@wsj.com
…. we gonna have to pay the “others” too”
