Maine Senator Susan Collins in June 2018 called the previous administration’s family separation policy "traumatizing,” saying children are “innocent victims” and stating that separating them from their families “is contrary to our values in this country.”
Today, she's among the dozens of Senate Republicans despicably seeking to block reported settlements from traumatized families who have filed legal action against the federal government.
Roll Call’s Caroline Simon reports that more than half of the GOP Senate caucus is supporting an amendment to the “must-pass” 2022 defense spending bill that would block the Justice Department from reported settlements. Nearly 30 members support the amendment, including Marco Rubio, Ron Johnson, Tom Cotton, John Kennedy, Chuck Grassley, and Mitch McConnell. Naturally, the caucus’ press release is filled lies.
“Giving out potentially billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to people who broke federal law to enter the country is outrageous and an insult to the American people,” McConnell said, adding he was “proud” to back the amendment. Cotton claimed the administration wants to “reward” people “who illegally entered our country,” a lie echoed by Kennedy, Mike Lee, and Rick Scott. “Democrats want to give nearly half-a-million dollars to individuals who broke our nation’s laws,” the latter said.
Like I’ve said this week, last week, and for several years now, seeking asylum at a border is legal immigration. They followed the law. Our government at the time did not. “What was illegal was denying these families due process under our asylum laws,” Al Otro Lado Managing Attorney Carol Anne Donohoe tweeted at McConnell on Tuesday. “Asylum seeking is not illegal entry. But you already know that. Gotta drum up that racist base, amirite?”
Yup. But it’s only the latest GOP-led effort grossly seeking to block any semblance of justice from these families. Early last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Republican members wrote to President Biden asking him to oppose reported settlements (that letter was similarly filled with lies about “aliens who broke our laws”). To be clear, the president—who during the 2020 campaign called the separations “criminal”—has said on the record that he’s “perfectly comfortable” with settlements (though the amount remains unclear).
“If it saves taxpayer dollars and puts the disastrous history of the previous administration’s use of zero tolerance and family separation behind us, the president is perfectly comfortable with the Department of Justice settling with the individuals and families who are currently in litigation with the U.S. government,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in additional remarks.
Let’s also be clear about why Republicans like Collins said anything critical about the family separation in the first place. It wasn’t because she was very concerned about the abuses happening at the border; it was because of the outraged public response to abuses happening at the border. While Collins might’ve called stealing children from their families “traumatizing,” she refused to support Democrats’ legislation blocking further separations. “In fact, constituents that contact Collins about the policy receive a reply from her office in which she explains her tacit support for the Trump policy,” Daily Kos’ Hunter noted in 2018.
Meanwhile, Marco Rubio, who is up for reelection in 2022, once tried to pin the previous president’s policy on former President Obama. “Bible-quoting Marco Rubio defends Trump's inhumane child-separation policy,” Miami New Times declared at the time. When it comes to Collins, Hunter wrote that “her sternly worded objections mean nothing; she is one of the few hundred people in America able to put an immediate end to it, and she continues to refuse to do so. That is who she really is.” Now Collins is objecting to compensation for the abuses she tolerated. Shame.
Today, she's among the dozens of Senate Republicans despicably seeking to block reported settlements from traumatized families who have filed legal action against the federal government.
Roll Call’s Caroline Simon reports that more than half of the GOP Senate caucus is supporting an amendment to the “must-pass” 2022 defense spending bill that would block the Justice Department from reported settlements. Nearly 30 members support the amendment, including Marco Rubio, Ron Johnson, Tom Cotton, John Kennedy, Chuck Grassley, and Mitch McConnell. Naturally, the caucus’ press release is filled lies.
“Giving out potentially billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to people who broke federal law to enter the country is outrageous and an insult to the American people,” McConnell said, adding he was “proud” to back the amendment. Cotton claimed the administration wants to “reward” people “who illegally entered our country,” a lie echoed by Kennedy, Mike Lee, and Rick Scott. “Democrats want to give nearly half-a-million dollars to individuals who broke our nation’s laws,” the latter said.
Like I’ve said this week, last week, and for several years now, seeking asylum at a border is legal immigration. They followed the law. Our government at the time did not. “What was illegal was denying these families due process under our asylum laws,” Al Otro Lado Managing Attorney Carol Anne Donohoe tweeted at McConnell on Tuesday. “Asylum seeking is not illegal entry. But you already know that. Gotta drum up that racist base, amirite?”
Yup. But it’s only the latest GOP-led effort grossly seeking to block any semblance of justice from these families. Early last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Republican members wrote to President Biden asking him to oppose reported settlements (that letter was similarly filled with lies about “aliens who broke our laws”). To be clear, the president—who during the 2020 campaign called the separations “criminal”—has said on the record that he’s “perfectly comfortable” with settlements (though the amount remains unclear).
“If it saves taxpayer dollars and puts the disastrous history of the previous administration’s use of zero tolerance and family separation behind us, the president is perfectly comfortable with the Department of Justice settling with the individuals and families who are currently in litigation with the U.S. government,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in additional remarks.
Let’s also be clear about why Republicans like Collins said anything critical about the family separation in the first place. It wasn’t because she was very concerned about the abuses happening at the border; it was because of the outraged public response to abuses happening at the border. While Collins might’ve called stealing children from their families “traumatizing,” she refused to support Democrats’ legislation blocking further separations. “In fact, constituents that contact Collins about the policy receive a reply from her office in which she explains her tacit support for the Trump policy,” Daily Kos’ Hunter noted in 2018.
Meanwhile, Marco Rubio, who is up for reelection in 2022, once tried to pin the previous president’s policy on former President Obama. “Bible-quoting Marco Rubio defends Trump's inhumane child-separation policy,” Miami New Times declared at the time. When it comes to Collins, Hunter wrote that “her sternly worded objections mean nothing; she is one of the few hundred people in America able to put an immediate end to it, and she continues to refuse to do so. That is who she really is.” Now Collins is objecting to compensation for the abuses she tolerated. Shame.