WASHINGTON — Although Pres. Joe Biden is “walking back” on a reported move to provide hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation to immigrant families separated during the Trump Administration, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., has cosponsored a bill that would provide more oversight of such payments.

 

Capito, who is ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, submitted legislation to prevent the U.S. Treasury Department from using its Judgment Fund to provide payments to thousands of migrants who entered the country illegally, a move the Biden administration is reportedly considering in the amount of $450,000 per person.

 

“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 announcing the legislation Friday. “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. 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. We cannot allow this to happen.”

Capito said during a virtual press conference Thursday that Biden is now trying walk back those huge payments, but “this is a story we need to keep our eyes on.”

 

She said state residents expressed “a lot of outrage” at the proposal during a tele-hall meeting earlier this week.

 

“It is an outrageous amount of money,” she said.

 

The reported compensation payments were in response to lawsuits filed by the individuals impacted when children were separated from the parents at the southern border.

 

Capito said the $450,000 is “more than four times greater than the payment families of our fallen service members receive.”

 

The legislation is called the Judgment Fund Accountability Act, and was written by U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.).

 

Capito said it calls for an increase in transparency and oversight of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Judgment Fund.

 

“More broadly, it would provide members of Congress and hardworking Americans with the ability to see exactly how taxpayer dollars are being spent out of this fund,” she said.

 

The Treasury Department’s Judgment Fund is used by the Treasury Department to pay certain settlements when lawsuits are brought against the federal government.

 

Capito said use of this fund has been heavily scrutinized over the last decade for limited accountability, transparency or oversight, and that includes the Obama administration’s decision to transfer $1.3 billion from the Judgment Fund to the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2016.

“The fund is not subject to the annual appropriations process, and lacks binding reporting requirements,” she said.