CHARLESTON — A plan by the Biden administration to send six-figure settlement checks to families who attempted to cross the border from Mexico into the U.S. illegally only to be separated after being arrested is not sitting well with some members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that President Joe Biden, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Health and Human Services are considering giving families who were separated after crossing the Mexico/U.S. border payments of $450,000 per person.
The offer is being made to settle lawsuits from families who claim they suffered psychological trauma when parents were separated from their children. In most cases, it was one parent and one child who were separated, which could mean payments of close to $1 million per pair, though final numbers are still being worked out.
According to the ACLU, more than 5,500 children were separated from their families during the administration of former president Donald Trump, though settlements would likely not reach that number and depend on who comes forward. As of last week, only 940 claims have been filed.
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, signed onto an amendment Wednesday to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 to block the cash settlements resulting from enforcement of the Trump-era Zero Tolerance Policy that required the separation of children from parents who crossed the border.
“Under any circumstance, rewarding illegal immigrants with cash handouts is unacceptable, let alone in President Biden’s inflation economy when millions of Americans are struggling to make ends meet,” Capito said in a statement. “We’ve already seen the Biden administration create a border crisis by halting construction of the border wall, ending the effective Remain in Mexico policy, and reversing key asylum restrictions.”
Capito has been a frequent critic over the last several months of Biden’s handling of the illegal crossings at the border, which reached all-time records this past summer. According to the U.S. Border Patrol, approximately 1.66 million arrests occurred for people crossing the border illegally during fiscal year 2021, shattering all previous records.
“This mind-boggling new proposal of paying illegal immigrants up to $450,000 each is another backwards move that will further incentivize people to continue breaking our immigration laws in record numbers,” Capito said. “We cannot allow this to happen.”
On the House of Representatives side of the building, 2nd District Congressman Alex Mooney was one of 70 House members who signed onto a letter Tuesday raising concerns about the possibility of cash settlements for separated families.
“I support legal immigration into our great nation, after all my own mother immigrated to this country from Cuba in the pursuit of freedom. However, we should not incentivize illegal immigration” Mooney said. “Make no mistake, the United States is a welcome destination for lawful immigration. Instead of giving cash payments to illegal immigrants, President Biden should secure the out-of-control southern border.”
On Twitter last week, 1st District Congressman David McKinley also criticized the potential six-figure settlements.
“So let me get this straight. Break the law, cross the border illegally and get paid nearly 10x the median household income in WV,” McKinley asked. “Got it.”