WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — A new bill in Congress would stop President Joe Biden’s administration from giving payments to undocumented immigrants who were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border during the Trump administration.
Migrants whose children were taken from them at the border are now in settlement talks with the federal government.
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W. Va., wants to ban those potential payments.
“I think that this is a wrongheaded policy,” she said. “It’s astronomical to think $450,000 per child.”
In early November, Biden signaled support for a form of compensation.
“You’re crossing the border, whether it’s legal or illegal. and you lost your child, it’s gone. You deserve some kind of compensation no matter what,” he said.
Capito said she disagreed with the separation policy under Trump but still doesn’t believe taxpayers should foot the bill.
“I think families should be able to remain together even if they enter illegally,” she said.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said the federal government making payments such as these is not a new idea and that the government has a responsibility to make things right.
“We’ve done it in agriculture. We’ve done it in business. We should do it for human beings,” he said. “When government does something that ends up creating hardship for families and wronging people, government does something about it.”
Regardless of what happens with the payments, Capito said she thinks border security is the ultimate solution.
“The best thing we can do is make sure people aren’t entering this country illegally,” she said.