There is yet to be a settlement agreement between the U.S. government and families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border under the zero-tolerance policy put in place by former President Donald Trump.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney Lee Gelernt refused to discuss details about the talk. According to the Associated Press, he also denied to confirm a reported settlement proposal of several hundred thousand dollars to each person affected. The reported amount was said to be $450,000 to $1,000,000, Newsweek reported. Gelernt did mention the possibility of a trial with parents separated from children as young as 6 months as witnesses if they can't reach an agreement to end the litigation.
"All I can say is there's no deal on the table and we have no timeframe necessarily," Gelernt said to reporters in a conference call.
Under Trump's policy, around 5,500 children were removed from their parents, regardless of whether they submitted themselves to law enforcement seeking asylum, AP reported. The practice was done to deter migrants from crossing the border.
After the ACLU filed a lawsuit, a judge ordered to end the program. This was six days after Trump signed an executive order halting the policy in June 2018.
There are criticisms against the settlement talks linking migrants increasingly trying to cross the border in the previous year.
"As you can imagine, many Americans think it's a pretty outrageous idea to offer massive taxpayer-funded payments to illegal immigrants who broke our laws, particularly in the middle of a record-shattering border crisis that this administration has created," Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley from Iowa said at a hearing for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
Mayorkas referred questions from the senators to the Department of Justice, which is handling negotiations, though at one point he disputed the suggestion that a settlement would encourage future migrants to seek to come to the U.S.
In addition to negotiating a potential settlement, the Biden administration has also been working to reunite some of the families. There are believed to be hundreds, and perhaps as many as 1,000 to 2,000, parents who were separated from their children and still haven't been located.
The settlement talks had been going on quietly for months when The Wall Street Journal reported in October that the Justice Department was considering paying about $450,000 to each person affected. AP later confirmed the figure had been under consideration.
In addition to the payment, settlement talks have also included discussion of granting the families legal U.S. residency and providing counseling services.
Asked about the amount on Nov. 3, Biden appeared to misunderstand the question and said a payment of about $450,000 per person was "not going to happen." He later said he supported a settlement, without specifying an amount.
"If, in fact, because of the outrageous behavior of the last administration, you coming across the border, whether it was legally or illegally, and you lost your child — You lost your child. It's gone — you deserve some kind of compensation, no matter what the circumstance," Biden said. "What that will be, I have no idea. I have no idea."
Migrant advocates say the amount of the settlement and the legal status of the families miss the point. "What's really an issue is the question of whether we as a country are OK with ripping babies out of the arms of their parents," said Conchita Cruz, co-executive director of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project.
Gelernt said in the call with reporters that many of the separated families were not entering the country illegally, as critics claim, because they were presenting themselves to authorities to seek asylum, which is legal under U.S. law. He also pointed out that even non-citizens can sue the U.S. government, regardless of their immigration status.
"The truth is that lawyers always settle cases, and it's usually because it's in their financial interest to do so," he said.
The advocates gave a sense of what a trial might entail, bringing a woman to the call who gave her name only as Leticia and tearfully described having her son taken from her as she sought asylum in 2017. It was 2 1/2 years before they were reunited and she said the boy showed signs of psychological trauma from the separation.
"Even now after being reunited together, we live in fear a day that we could still be separated," she said. "I could not imagine living through this pain again."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
