President Biden responded Wednesday to a report that suggested his administration was mulling whether to make $450,000 payments to immigrants who were separated from their families at the border under former President Trump‘s administration, calling the reporting “garbage” and saying that it is “not gonna happen.”
Following remarks at the White House where he urged parents to get their children vaccinated, Biden was asked by Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy about the Wall Street Journal’s report and whether he believes it “might incentivize” immigrants to attempt to enter America illegally. Biden responded, “If you guys keep sending that garbage out, yeah, but it’s not true.”
FILE – In this June 10, 2021, file photo, a migrant family from Brazil waits to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents after passing through a gap in the border wall from Mexico in Yuma, Ariz. (AP Photo/Eugene Garcia, File)
(AP Photo/Eugene Garcia, File)
“So this is a garbage report,” Doocy asked?
“Yeah, $450,000 per person, is that what you said? That’s not gonna happen,” Biden stated.
When asked by Doocy about the reported plan days ago while attending a G-20 press conference in Rome, Biden looked away and scratched his forehead.
U.S President Joe Biden speaks during a press conference in the G20 leaders’ summit in Rome, Italy October 31, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
(Reuters)
The original report from the Journal said that the payments would be issued “to resolve lawsuits filed on behalf of parents and children who say the government subjected them to lasting psychological trauma.”
The Journal stated the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services are “considering payments that could amount to close to $1 million a family,” though final payment amounts could change as some “families would likely get smaller payouts, depending on their circumstances.”
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The Journal reported that around 940 claims have been filed by immigrant families who were separated at the border.
FILE – In this Aug. 23, 2019 file photo, immigrants seeking asylum hold hands as they leave a cafeteria at the ICE South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. The isolation of at least three families at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention center in Dilley, has raised new fears of the coronavirus spreading through a facility that has long been accused of providing substandard medical care. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
The news drew outrage from former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence, as well as members of Congress, including Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also weighed in, calling it a “slap in the face” to Americans.
The reported Biden administration plan drew criticism in part because the $450,000 payments would exceed those given to some families of 9/11 victims and Gold Star families.