According to Wall Street Journal sources, the White House is studying the possibility of compensating migrant families who were separated by the Trump administration after crossing the US border illegally.
Representatives of the US Republican Party attacked President Joe Biden this week for his alleged plan to compensate families who were separated by authorities after irregularly crossing the southern border of the country.
The Biden administration is considering offering families that were separated during the Trump Administration compensation of around $ 450,000 per person, according to The Wall Street Journal, referring to sources familiar with the matter.
According to the newspaper, the departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services are examining the possibility of making payments that could amount to about a million dollars per family, although the final figures could vary.
In recent months, lawyers for the families of migrants and government jurists have been discussing possible compensation, according to the outlet. However, several representatives of the Administration considered the amounts of the payments to be excessive.
Last January, the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents several families in a lawsuit over the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy, issued a statement urging the incoming Biden Administration to act quickly on this matter, noting that “must reunite separated families in America.”
After taking office, Biden created the Interagency Task Force for Family Reunification, which, according to September data, has returned 50 children to their parents. In addition, 2,171 other minors were reunited thanks to a court order and the efforts of non-governmental organizations.
However, 1,727 children still remain separated from their families, which constitutes 33% of all those identified as separated from their parents during the Trump Administration.
Republican reaction
Tom Cotton, a Republican senator from Arkansas, compared this measure to paying “a burglar who broke into your home for the ‘psychological trauma’ he suffered during the crime.” “It is the height of madness,” he said in a statement published on Thursday.
For his part, Congressman Steve Womack also called Biden’s plan “insane.” “Rewarding illegal immigrants with hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars is the latest insult to law-abiding citizens,” the Republican politician wrote on his Twitter account.
Source: wsj.com
