Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that giving immigrant families who were separated at the border payouts would be a “slap in the face” to Americans in a video he tweeted out Monday.
“It’s a slap in the face to every hardworking American who works hard and plays by the rules,” he said.
DeSantis as referencing a Wall Street Journal report from last week that said President Joe Biden’s administration is considering offering immigrant families separated under Donald Trump’s administration around $450,000 per person in compensation. According to the report, the total payout could come out to more than $1 billion.
Payouts would come from the U.S. Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services, said the report.
As part of a zero-tolerance policy, thousands of children were separated from their families after crossing the border in 2018. Most families came across the border illegally from Mexico to seek asylum in the U.S.
Several agencies have filed lawsuits on behalf of the separated families. These suits claim that the federal government caused the immigrants to experience lasting psychological trauma. Children were sometimes detained in freezing cold rooms and faced ailments such as exhaustion and malnutrition, said the Wall Street Journal.
Members of the Biden administration have not made an official announcement regarding the plan to pay the families impacted by these separations.
DeSantis said he would be against the idea because it would provide money to “people who came to our country illegally across the Southern border.”
“I mean, think about it,” he said. “Americans are getting more in their gas bills, they’re getting more in their grocery bills, you’ve had all kinds of really bad polices throughout our country that has limited freedom, and you’re gonna turn around for that and you’re going to do $475,000 for an individual who came illegally to this county?”
In addition to this issue, DeSantis has clashed with the federal government under the current Democrat administration over mask and vaccine mandates.
According to Fox News, 45 House Republicans – including House Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, GOP Caucus Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York and Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw – have also signed onto a letter led by North Carolina Rep. Greg Murphy asking for information about the alleged payments to immigrants separated at the border.“Promising tens of thousands of dollars to those who unlawfully entered the United States would not only reward criminal behavior, but it would surely send a message to the world that our borders are open and our rule of law will not be enforced,” said the letter.
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