Zero-Tolerance Policy: Why Many Americans Find the Idea of Cash Payments to Illegals Offensive

The Wall Street Journal broke on 28 October that the Biden administration was considering payments of $450,000 per person affected by Trump's zero-tolerance policy in 2018, as several agencies work to resolve lawsuits filed on behalf of parents and children. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), about 5,500 children were separated from their families at the border.

When asked about the reported payments on Wednesday, Biden said that "that’s not gonna happen" and denounced the WSJ report as "garbage" and "not true". Biden’s remark immediately sparked criticism from ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero, who argued that the president risked "abandoning a core campaign promise to do justice for the thousands of separated families".

Meanwhile, many Americans find the idea of cash payouts to illegal migrants "offensive", according to Dan Cadman, a fellow at the Centre for Immigration Studies and a retired INS/ICE official.

"It's important to note that the 'reason' for the proposal is because illegal alien parents were separated from their children when crossing the US border without authority, which is a crime for which they were prosecuted", the retired ICE official explains. "This allegedly caused 'trauma' for which they should be compensated".

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Cadman cites observers arguing that the amount discussed by the WSJ exceeds what is provided to surviving family members when members of the military are killed in action; to the survivors when a law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty; and to many of the victims and surviving family members of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

However, these observations are missing the point, according to the former law enforcement agent:

"Consider that when an American citizen who happens to be a parent is arrested and convicted of a crime, he or she is routinely separated from his/her children and family", Cadman says. "Is that any less traumatic for those family members? Of course not. But no rational person would suggest providing them cash payouts because of the criminal misconduct of the parent serving time in prison".

The whole idea of compensation for the situation stemming from illegal border breaches is ill-conceived, according to the ex-ICE officer. "It is beyond belief that the Biden Justice Department would even engage in negotiations to award cash payouts for a prior administration's willingness to enforce this country's immigration laws", he notes.

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"In my opinion, the payment policy would be a very poor idea", echoes Charles N. Steele, professor at Hillsdale College. "It would incentivise false claims, further illegal immigration, and other opportunistic and criminal behaviour".

Steele explains that the ongoing discussions of cash payouts appear to be references to possible settlements of class actions.

"According to the Interim Progress Report of 30 September 2021 by the Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families, the task force is working to 'negotiate settlement agreements for multiple class actions…' The report also notes that because settlement negotiations are confidential, the task force is limited in what it can say", the academic points out.

He highlights that the federal government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees are reportedly undertaking efforts - through advertising, websites, and other outreach - to identify families that might have been separated between 20 January 2017 and 20 January 2021. Under these efforts, families primarily self-identify and then their claims are evaluated, according to Steele.

Presumably, cash payment references are speculative, since negotiations are confidential and ongoing, the professor stresses.

In April 2018, the Trump administration adopted a "zero-tolerance policy" meant to ramp-up criminal prosecution of people caught entering the US illegally. The policy targeted all illegal entry referrals at the southwest border, including misdemeanours, regardless of whether the migrant adult was with a family unit. Soon afterwards the media started to report that illegals travelling with their children were being criminally prosecuted and separated from their youngsters.

According to Human Rights Watch's August 2018 report, nearly 3,000 children were separated from their parents before President Trump signed an executive order on June 20 halting family separation. The zero-tolerance policy remained in place until 26 January 2021, when it was rescinded by Joe Biden's Justice Department.