President Joe Biden’s administration is now backing giving amnesty to immigrants separated from family members at the U.S.–Mexico border during the Trump administration, shifting away from plans to pay money to them.
Negotiations on the payments between the government and groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, spurred by a hope to settle lawsuits against the government, fell apart in December 2021. At the time, the Department of Justice said “we remain committed to engaging with the plaintiffs and to bringing justice to the victims of this abhorrent policy.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told NBC in a recent interview that the administration now wants all the separated illegal immigrants to be granted permanent legal status, or amnesty.
“We are advocating to Congress that they provide these individuals with legal status—that requires a statutory change,” Mayorkas, a Biden appointee, said. “The White House is 100 percent supportive of it, as am I, and we continue to advocate vigorously for it.”
Hellbound and Down 