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Rep. Garcia Slams Biden for Proposed $450K Windfall to Illegal Immigrants

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In late October, The Wall Street Journal revealed that the Biden administration was planning to hand out hundreds of millions of dollars to illegal immigrants whose families were separated at the border.

“The government is considering payments of $450,000 per person affected by Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy in 2018,” said the WSJ. This news caused a stir in Washington, generating an immediate response from GOP congressmen, who pushed a bill to block Biden’s plan.

The bill states that the U.S. Attorney General will not be able to make payments to illegal immigrants “that directly arise from their violation of immigration laws, including laws that criminalize illegal border crossings and that make a migrant inadmissible for attempting to enter a country illegally at a port of entry,” according to Fox News.

The bill is being pushed and co-sponsored by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), and 135 other members of Congress, including Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA).

“We continue to warn President Biden of the very real crisis at our southern border, and he repeatedly fails to listen. Since the President took office, there have been 1.4 million illegal border crossings and over 10,000 individuals arrested with criminal convictions,” Garcia said in a press release.

Mike García crítica a Joe Biden por el supuesto plan de entregar $ 450,000 a inmigrantes ilegales
Mike García listens to testimony from FBI Director Christopher Wray (R) during a hearing on “global threats to the homeland” at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, United States, September 17, 2020. (EFE)

“This proposal to use taxpayer funds to pay individuals who entered the U.S. illegally up to six times the average annual income for American households is both irresponsible and wrong,” the congressman added.

“These proposed payments that could amount to $1 million per family, and $1 billion in government spending overall, will only add fuel to the fire. This is going to further the crisis at hand, incentivizing more individuals to illegally cross the border, and empowering drug cartels and criminal organizations to utilize it to their advantage.”

Mike Garcia vs. the Biden administration

Mike Garcia has been one of the legislators most critical of Biden and his “open” border policies. Last June, the congressman traveled to the southern border along with other legislators to assess the border crisis.

On that trip, Garcia was denied “access to the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC).” run by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and managed directly by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which led to criticism of the Biden administration for lack of transparency.

Garcia, on repeated occasions, was harsh in his assessment of the Biden administration’s border policies because California’s 25th district, which he represents, is heavily affected by drug trafficking and insecurity generated by criminal gangs that take advantage of illegal crossings.

“The implications of our open southern border stretch beyond our border communities, as we have seen in California’s 25th District with the illegal marijuana grows taking over communities in the High Desert. These illegal grow operations are worked by 95% illegal immigrants and run by international criminal organizations,” said Garcia.

“We cannot keep pushing policies that put America last. It is my hope that this legislation will put an end to this payment proposal,” Garcia said in the press release.

President Joe Biden leaves after speaking about the October jobs report in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, November 05, 2021. (EFE)

As Republicans introduced the bill and the media ran stories about the alleged payment plan, President Biden called the reports “garbage” when asked about it by Fox News’ Peter Doocy.

If you guys keep sending that garbage out? Yeah, but it’s not true… $450,000 per person, is that what you’re saying?… That’s not going to happen.”

According to the WSJ, the payments could reach US$ 1 million per family which would amount to US$ 1 billion in total. However, the media outlet itself stressed that many families would receive smaller payments, as negotiations between the federal government and lawyers representing the families have not yet been completed.

The New York Times also published an article about the payment plan and reported that about 5,500 children were separated from parents at the southern border under the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy.

Emmanuel Alejandro Rondón is a journalist at El American specializing in the areas of American politics and media analysis // Emmanuel Alejandro Rondón es periodista de El American especializado en las áreas de política americana y análisis de medios de comunicación.

Contacto: [email protected]

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