(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- It seems that immigrants won’t be able to rely on the Biden administration’s ultra-liberal policies to save them in every instance.
This week, Biden’s Department of Justice is in court arguing that immigrants who, during the Trump administration, were forcibly separated from family members don’t deserve any compensation for these actions taken by U.S. officials.
On January 7, the DOJ filed court paperwork in Pennsylvania asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit by immigrant families who were seeking compensation for what was done to them. The DOJ is expected to take the same exact action in California, where similar lawsuits have been filed.
In December, the DOJ had been negotiating with attorneys who represent these families, but those talks broke down, according to The Washington Post. That led the federal government to take this action in claiming that the families deserve no compensation at all.
In the filings, the DOJ said it didn’t condone the policy passed under former President Donald Trump that saw families separated as a way to dissuade future border crossings that were unauthorized. At the same time, they argued that this case in particular dealt with whether the migrants could challenge enforcement of immigration policies.
As the briefing reads:
“At issue in this case is whether adults who entered the country without authorization can challenge the federal government’s enforcement of federal immigration laws. They cannot.”
This is allegedly a pretty abrupt change in stance by the Biden administration. Reports came out that the White House was preparing to give out roughly $450,000 to families who were separated as part of Trump’s “zero-tolerance policy.” President Joe Biden denied the figure in October.
However, Republicans pounced on the leaked reports, saying they were payments that would only reward illegal activity by the migrant families.
It’s also been reported that the political pressure the Republicans were putting on the Biden administration is one of the reasons why the negotiations between the DOJ and the migrant families’ attorneys broke down last month.
That led to the ACLU, which is representing many of the migrant families, to file close to 20 lawsuits and dozens of administrative complaints against the federal government.
With the recent action by the DOJ saying the families deserve no compensation, many liberals are viewing it as a broken promise by Biden. At one point, he pledged to try to make amends for the various immigration enforcement policies enacted by his predecessor.
One of the ways his administration did so was to set up a task force that helped many of the 2,800 families who were separated during the Trump White House reunite with each other. Not all of the families have yet to reconnect, though.
If the DOJ doesn’t argue its case successfully, the federal government could be on the hook for significant financial awards that would go to the migrant families.
If the DOJ is successful, the families wouldn’t receive any compensation at all.
