Sunday, November 10, 2024

The Biden administration may soon compensate migrant families separated under Trump

Over 5,600 migrant families who were separated during the Trump administration between 2017 and 2018 may soon receive monetary compensation.

The Biden Administration is working on offering the separated families about $450,00 per person. 

Many of these families are currently in negotiations with the Department of Justice claiming that the separation traumatized them, especially young children, which is why they deserve compensation as well as the right to remain in the United States to heal from the trauma.

Prior to the implementation of the “zero tolerance” policy, established in 2018, crossing the border undocumented did not result in federal prosecution of parents accompanied with children, therefore, preventing family separation. 

The Trump administration did not have a system to efficiently reunite the separated families. In many cases, the parents were deported to their home countries while their children remained in the U.S. Today, the White House estimates that more than 1,000 families are still separated. According to court records, more than 300 parents of separated children have yet to be located.

The Biden administration created a task force to track down and reunite the separated migrant families, which lead to over 50 families being reunified. 

The lawyers that represent these families hope that more families will soon be reunited after the Biden Administration comes to an agreement allowing the deported parents to return to the U.S. permanently or on temporary pardon. 

The payments under negotiation would go directly to the families regardless of where they reside. However, some lawyers worry that such a large sum of money will make them a target to gang-related violence in their home countries.

NBC