In October, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Biden administration was considering paying $450,000 to illegal immigrants who crossed the southern border and were separated from their families during the Trump administration. When asked about it, Joe Biden called the report “garbage,”
Now we know that the Biden administration won’t be compensating illegal immigrant families… but that’s only because they ceased negotiations, not because it was never under consideration.
“The families’ lawyers said Justice Department attorneys informed them that the government would no longer work with them to settle lawsuits filed on behalf of parents and children seeking damages over the border separations,” CBS News reported. “Thursday’s decision by the Biden administration, which has forcefully denounced the Trump-era separations, comes after Republican lawmakers expressed outrage over reports that some families could have received hundreds of thousands of dollars as part of a potential settlement.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wasn’t happy about the development. “It would be an understatement to say we are disappointed that the Biden administration allowed politics to get in the way of helping the little children deliberately abused by our government,” ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt, who represents separated families, told CBS News.
But the Biden administration remains committed to “bringing justice” to “the victims” of the family separation.
“While the parties have been unable to reach a global settlement agreement at this time, we remain committed to engaging with the plaintiffs and to bringing justice to the victims of this abhorrent policy,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
It is not clear whether those separated at the border during the Obama-Biden administration are also going to get “justice.”
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