Biden’s reported plan for payments to migrants separated from their families at U.S.-Mexico borders under President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policies has left one border-state sheriff “perplexed.”
Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels made a statement to Fox News slamming the proposal. He said it “creates an image that serves to defy the law and fracture American values.”
Payouts to migrants
Danels, as chair of the National Sheriffs Association Border Committee, has been vocal in his criticism of President Joe Biden’s lax enforcement of the border security laws by the White House over the past 10 months.
That didn’t change when the Wall Street Journal reported last week that three agencies within the Biden administration — the Departments of Justice (DOJ), Homeland Security (DHS), and Health and Human Services (HHS) — had been engaged in negotiations with civil rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to provide reparations to migrant families affected by Trump-era policies.
According to the Journal, the payments could reach as high as $450,000 per adult and up to $1million per family. The total amount could even exceed $1 billion, once all civil litigation has been resolved.
Back-and-forth at the White House
When asked about the report by President Biden following a speech Wednesday, he initially dismissed it as “garbage”.
However, White House deputy press secretary Karinejean-Pierre refuted this claim during Thursday’s briefing. She claimed that the president was “perfectly content” with the payouts and that there was only one dispute about the final amount.
Fox also noted that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas seemed to confirm the Journal‘s report during a Thursday speech at Aspen Security Forum. He acknowledged that both the proposed payouts and a pathway to citizenship to illegal aliens are still under consideration by the Biden administration.
“Willful neglect”
All of it proved too much for Dannels who stated in his statement to FOX:
America’s southern border has become a political pathway for illegal entries highlighted by historical numbers and willful neglect by this administration, leaving Americans vulnerable to the practices of the cartels’ criminal behavior.
“President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas continue to set aside their Oath of Office to protect America first,” the sheriff continued. “Recent decisions and negotiations by this administration to financially reward those who illegally breached our southern border creates a message that serves to defy our rule of law and fracture our American values and traditions.”
He concluded: “As a border Sheriff, I stand perplexed by these failed decisions, but stand steadfast in the protection of my citizens and the rule of law as outlined in my Oath of Office.”
He’s not alone. Fox reports that Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (KY), joined by Senate Judiciary Committee ranking Republican Chuck Grassley (IA), sent a letter Thursday to Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding answers to a series of pertinent questions regarding the “multi-million-dollar taxpayer give-away to illegal immigrants.” Only time will tell when — and if — they’ll hear back.
