Biden denies $450k payment plan for separated migrant families [Video]

• Previous reports have stated that President Biden’s administration was planning to pay about $450,000 per person for separated migrant parents and children.
• One of Biden’s core campaign promises was to provide a measure of justice for migrant families separated under the Trump administration.
• But the president denied the existence of the plan on Wednesday and called it a “garbage” report.

The existence of the reported $450,000 payment plan for separated migrant families was denied by President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

When reporters asked the president about the plan, he responded, “That’s not gonna happen.”

According to the reports published last week by the Wall Street Journal, the administration was considering a payment plan of about $450,000 per person for separated migrant parents and children. This report was later confirmed by several other news outlets.

On Wednesday, Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy touched upon the reported payment plan and asked if it could potentially result in migrants flocking over to the U.S.

Biden responded, “If you guys keep sending that garbage out, yeah. But it’s not true.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) pointed out that one of Biden’s core campaign promises was to provide a measure of justice for migrant families separated under the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance border policy.

When Biden started his term, he formed a task force that will help reunite families that were still separated. According to task force chief Michelle Brane, they have already reunited 52 families since February. 

Several lawsuits have since been filed against the government, challenging the Trump administration for separating children from their families.

ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero surmised that the president may not have been briefed by the Justice Department’s deliberations on the criminal aspects of the issue, and called for him to “right the wrongs of this national tragedy.”

The Biden administration has been heavily criticized after reports of the potential payouts circulated.

On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called the plan an “absurd idea” that “feels like a satirical policy proposal that Republicans would have invented to make a parody out of the radical left.”

According to legal experts, however, settlements may cost less than allowing the cases to go to court, where the government’s harsh treatment of migrants would be exposed.

Source: The Hill