Trump Slams Biden for Allegedly Mulling 450k Payments to Migrants as US Turned Into 'Dumping Ground'
© REUTERS / JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ
Subscribe
Former President of the United States Donald Trump joined The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show on 29 October to discuss topics such as Truth Social, the new social media platform he is rolling out, COVID-19 vaccines, wokeism in sports and the migrant crisis at the US border.
Former President Donald Trump has dismissed as “not even believable" the ludicrous, in his opinion, idea considered by the Joe Biden administration to pay $450,000, and more, per person, to illegal migrants who were separated from their families at the southern border for “psychological trauma”.
“We’ve become a dumping ground, and it’s a very sad thing. It’s not even believable what they’re doing,” said Trump, as he discussed the crisis at the US border during his appearance on the "Clay Travis and Buck Sexton" show.
President Trump Talks to Clay and Buck
— Clay & Buck (@clayandbuck) October 29, 2021
"Jimmy Carter's looking very good right now because he was sort of used as an example of how not to do things." - President Trump #Trump #LetsGoBrandon #BidenIsAFailure #FJBhttps://t.co/v47ZwScgOP
When asked by the hosts to weigh in on Joe Biden’s efforts to undo what his predecessor’s administration did to secure the border, Trump said:
“Well, one of the things we were doing is separation, which was done before us, but separation. When people heard that, they didn’t come because if a parent hears they’re gonna be separated, they didn’t come. One of the reasons I was so successful at the border.”
The crisis on the US-Mexico border has turned into one of the Biden administration’s biggest debacles. GOP officials have blasted the Democratic POTUS for creating a “humanitarian and national security crisis” as he rushed to undo Trump’s tough immigration policies, while Central American leaders, including the presidents of Mexico and Guatemala, have accused Biden of effectively encouraging migrants and human smugglers to make the dangerous trek to the US with his policies and statements.
“When you look at what they’re doing at the border, there’s never been anything like it. The greatest we’ve ever had went to the worst — probably one of the worst in the history of the world, because no country can sustain what’s happening to our country,” said Donald Trump.
The 45th President’s remarks came in response to a report from the Wall Street Journal, stating that payments of "around $450,000 a person in compensation" could be issued to immigrants affected by Trump's zero-tolerance immigration policy in an effort "to resolve lawsuits filed on behalf of parents and children who say the government subjected them to lasting psychological trauma".
In this Thursday, June 10, 2021, file photo, a pair of migrant families from Brazil pass through a gap in the border wall to reach the United States after crossing from Mexico to Yuma, Ariz., to seek asylum.
© AP Photo / Eugene Garcia
Trump, however, touted immigration court battles his administration had successfully won.
“And, as you know, after 2-1/2 years I won all the legal cases, 11 legal cases, and we started the wall and was almost finished, would have been finished within a month, and they didn’t finish it. Now, most of it’s built, anyway, so it has a big impact, but between the wall and Remain in Mexico, people weren’t allowed into our country. I worked it out with the Mexican government. They gave us 28,000 soldiers free," continued Trump.
The ex-President also commented on the huge latest caravan of mostly Central American migrants trekking across southern Mexico seeking to reach either Mexico City or the US border. People in the caravan appeared to be carrying large banners and signs, some of them including President Biden’s name on them, and others demanding “peace and justice” and safe haven from “repression.”
BREAKING: A large Migrant Caravan has departed Tapachula, Mexico carrying signs w @POTUS name on it @FoxNews #bordercrisis pic.twitter.com/iLCZeSRRPg
— Griff Jenkins (@GriffJenkins) October 23, 2021
“And you have big caravans coming up. You have tough caravans. They went right through the Mexican police like it was butter. We better stop ’em. That’s all I can tell you. We’re taking in millions of people into our country illegally, and these people are rough people. Many of them are rough, rough people,” said Donald Trump on the show.
Earlier, former Vice President Mike Pence also commented on the Journal's report, saying it was "totally unacceptable" that the Biden administration would consider making payments that could total "hundreds of millions of dollars" to migrants, which, according to the Journal's sources.
29 October 2021, 23:57 GMT
Members of Congress have been criticising the reported payments, too. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, a Navy SEAL veteran, tweeted that Biden “wants to pay illegal immigrants $450,000 for their hardship while breaking our laws."
Biden wants to pay illegal immigrants $450,000 for their hardship while breaking our laws.
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) October 28, 2021
For perspective, if a service member is killed in action, their next of kin gets an insurance payment of $400,000.
Let that sink in. https://t.co/J3kuhDhyD5
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, in an interview for Fox News, stated: “Think about this: you’re going to pay people half a million dollars who broke the law. At the same time, the Biden administration is getting ready to raise taxes on the hardworking American families of this country—it makes absolutely no sense…”
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, tweeted the report was “unacceptable”.
UNACCEPTABLE Report says Biden admin considering payments of 450k per person 2ppl who crossed the border ILLEGALLY Those are taxpayers dollars We should not be paying anything to ppl who break our laws
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) October 28, 2021
This comes as on 22 October, US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) announced that its agents had registered over 192,000 migrant encounters in the month of September, with the total number of encounters in fiscal year 2021 topping 1.7 million.
These figures surpass the previous record of 1.64 million set in the year 2000. Furthermore, US Border Patrol recorded 557 Southwest border deaths during the fiscal year, which ended September 30 - more migrant deaths than in any prior year on record, according to data shared by the agency on 28 October.
