A group of Senate Republicans has introduced a plan to ban President Joe Biden from providing cash, reparations-style payouts to border crossers who were subjected to border controls by former President Trump’s administration.
The Biden administration is weighing whether to provide border crossers — who were subjected to Trump’s “Zero Tolerance” policy — with $450,000 each as part of a payout in lawsuits filed. The plan could cost American taxpayers about $1 billion, turning some border crossers into millionaires seemingly overnight.
Biden denied the plans on Wednesday, stating, “That’s not going to happen,” though the decision lies with Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys.
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) has since introduced an amendment to include in a Defense Department spending bill that would ban Biden from administering such payouts to border crossers. Daines also introduced separate legislation to ban the payouts.
The other 22 Senate Republicans backing Daines’ plan include:
- Richard Burr (R-NC)
- James Lankford (R-OK)
- Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS)
- Roger Marshall (R-KS)
- Tommy Tuberville (R-AL)
- Tom Cotton (R-AR)
- John Kennedy (R-LA)
- Mike Lee (R-UT)
- Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
- Ron Johnson (R-WI)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)
- Mike Braun (R-IN)
- Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
- John Hoeven (R-ND)
- Todd Young (R-IN)
- Pat Toomey (R-PA)
- Marco Rubio (R-FL)
- Joni Ernst (R-IA)
- Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- John Boozman (R-AR)
- Roger Wicker (R-MS)
This week, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Biden warning him not to provide such payments to border crossers, writing that it would provide a huge incentive for more illegal immigration to the United States.
“Rewarding illegal immigration with financial payments runs counter to our laws and would only serve to encourage more lawlessness at our border,” the Senators wrote.
As Breitbart News has noted, the $450,000 payouts to border crossers would far exceed the compensation provided to the victims of the September 11, 2001, Islamic terrorist attacks and of the Boston Marathon bombings.
In addition, analysis by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) calculated that the single payout for a border crosser under the proposal could feed 42 American families for an entire year.
Meanwhile, the total cost of the payouts could provide homes to nearly 80,000 homeless Americans for a year or could forgive student loan debt for more than 27,000 American college students and graduates who are struggling to move up the economic ladder.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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