Asylum-seekers and advocacy groups that filed legal action against the previous administration over its traumatic, inhumane, and unlawful family separation policy may be getting close to reaching financial settlements under the Biden administration, CNN and The Wall Street Journal report. The latter report said officials are in talks for possible settlements of $450,000 per person subjected to the policy, which Physicians for Human Rights in a 2020 report said constituted torture. However, that number may vary for others.”
“Negotiations are ongoing, and it’s unknown what the final figure will be, the source familiar with the matter said, noting that different numbers have been discussed at various times,” CNN reported. “Financial compensation would likely vary, and not all would get the maximum agreed-upon amount.” While the CNN report said that it’s unclear how many would be eligible for a settlement, The Wall Street Journal noted roughly 940 families had filed claims.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), among those to file a lawsuit against the previous administration, said in court documents in 2019 that nearly 5,500 children overall were stolen from their families at the border by administration beginning in 2017. Due partly to the previous administration’s sloppy record-keeping (which that administration also outright lied about), the Biden administration has struggled to quickly locate and reunite families. The Associated Press reported in September that the Biden administration had reunited roughly 50 families as of that date.
“The Biden administration is correct to provide relief to the children and families affected by the government’s horrific practice of family separation,” ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt told CNN. “Their suffering is something they will always live with, and it is a deep moral stain on our country.”
In addition to saying the family separation policy rose “to the level of torture,” Physicians for Human Rights said in its 2020 report that U.S. officials in some cases “intentionally carried out actions causing severe pain and suffering, in order to punish, coerce, and intimidate Central American asylum seekers to give up their asylum claims, in a discriminatory manner.” The physicians concluded that the policy was a form of enforced disappearance, “which is prohibited under international law in all circumstances.”
Congressional Republicans and their allies reacted to The Wall Street Journal’s report with plenty of outrage—not over the inhumane family separation policy itself, but the possible settlements proposed by the federal government.
Presidential wannabe Tom Cotton falsely claimed that the Biden administration “wants you to give $1 million to illegal immigrant families who broke the law,” then shrieked something about “an assault on American sovereignty.” First of all, seeking asylum is legal immigration. Second, it seems like if Tom and his buddies wanted to avoid costly settlements, they should have supported allowing families to seek asylum and demanded the previous administration stop its actions. Instead, Tom vocally opposed legislation that would have blocked family separations. Ted Cruz also slammed the proposed settlements in a tweet. But he initially supported the previous administration’s separation policy.
“We need to make it right, and this includes not simply any monetary support, but also a path to remain here,” Gelernt continued to CNN. “This is what is right and fair.”
But while Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro reintroduced legislation in April that would put these families on a path to citizenship, it has yet to gain significant traction. “While we know we can never fully do right by the children who will be forever traumatized by this political decision, the Families Belong Together Act is the bare minimum our nation owes the families who separated as an apology and a promise to do right by them,” Castro said.
“Negotiations are ongoing, and it’s unknown what the final figure will be, the source familiar with the matter said, noting that different numbers have been discussed at various times,” CNN reported. “Financial compensation would likely vary, and not all would get the maximum agreed-upon amount.” While the CNN report said that it’s unclear how many would be eligible for a settlement, The Wall Street Journal noted roughly 940 families had filed claims.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), among those to file a lawsuit against the previous administration, said in court documents in 2019 that nearly 5,500 children overall were stolen from their families at the border by administration beginning in 2017. Due partly to the previous administration’s sloppy record-keeping (which that administration also outright lied about), the Biden administration has struggled to quickly locate and reunite families. The Associated Press reported in September that the Biden administration had reunited roughly 50 families as of that date.
“The Biden administration is correct to provide relief to the children and families affected by the government’s horrific practice of family separation,” ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt told CNN. “Their suffering is something they will always live with, and it is a deep moral stain on our country.”
In addition to saying the family separation policy rose “to the level of torture,” Physicians for Human Rights said in its 2020 report that U.S. officials in some cases “intentionally carried out actions causing severe pain and suffering, in order to punish, coerce, and intimidate Central American asylum seekers to give up their asylum claims, in a discriminatory manner.” The physicians concluded that the policy was a form of enforced disappearance, “which is prohibited under international law in all circumstances.”
Congressional Republicans and their allies reacted to The Wall Street Journal’s report with plenty of outrage—not over the inhumane family separation policy itself, but the possible settlements proposed by the federal government.
Presidential wannabe Tom Cotton falsely claimed that the Biden administration “wants you to give $1 million to illegal immigrant families who broke the law,” then shrieked something about “an assault on American sovereignty.” First of all, seeking asylum is legal immigration. Second, it seems like if Tom and his buddies wanted to avoid costly settlements, they should have supported allowing families to seek asylum and demanded the previous administration stop its actions. Instead, Tom vocally opposed legislation that would have blocked family separations. Ted Cruz also slammed the proposed settlements in a tweet. But he initially supported the previous administration’s separation policy.
“We need to make it right, and this includes not simply any monetary support, but also a path to remain here,” Gelernt continued to CNN. “This is what is right and fair.”
But while Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro reintroduced legislation in April that would put these families on a path to citizenship, it has yet to gain significant traction. “While we know we can never fully do right by the children who will be forever traumatized by this political decision, the Families Belong Together Act is the bare minimum our nation owes the families who separated as an apology and a promise to do right by them,” Castro said.