WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, this week cosponsored 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,” Senator Capito said. “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.”
The Judgment Fund Accountability Act, authored by U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), 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.
BACKGROUND:
The Treasury Department’s Judgment Fund is used by the Treasury Department to pay certain settlements when lawsuits are brought against the federal government. Use of this fund has been heavily scrutinized over the last decade for limited accountability, transparency or oversight. This 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.
The proposed legislation responds to reports the Biden administration plans to offer illegal immigrants who broke the law to come into the U.S. settlement payments up to $450,000 per person. The payments are in response to lawsuits by these individuals against the government. That figure is more than four times greater than the payment families of our fallen servicemembers receive.
In addition to preventing Judgement Fund dollars from going to illegal immigrants, the bill would enact a series of rules to boost transparency and public disclosure payments from the fund.
Read the full text of the bill here.
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