Proposed Biden Plan Could Pay $450K To Illegal Immigrants Exceeding 9/11 Victims

The Biden administration is considering a plan to pay $450,000 per person to illegal immigrants who were separated during the Trump administration, exceeding the payments given to some families of 9/11 victims and Gold Star families.

In response to a lawsuit by civil rights groups, the departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services are considering payments of $450,000 to individuals who crossed the border illegally with family then later separated. Payments could potentially amount to close to $1 million per family and $1 billion overall.

The plan, which is still under consideration, sparked immediate outrage from Republicans and former Trump officials at the possibility of using taxpayer money to turn illegal immigrants into millionaires.

Critics noted the amount would be more than received by families of those who’ve lost loved ones in military service, where the death gratuity is a single tax-free payment of 100,000. The military offers a life insurance program for service members that they must pay for through the Servicemember Group Life Insurance (SGLI) that maxes out at $400,000.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, pointed out the contrast between the payments proposed for illegal immigrants to the amount that is given to those families of loved ones lost in service to the country.

“Biden wants to pay illegal immigrants $450,000 for their hardship while breaking our laws,” Crenshaw, R-Texas, a Navy SEAL veteran, tweeted. “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.”

Dozens of Republicans wrote to the heads of the various agencies on Friday voicing the same concern.

“The idea that we would give illegal foreigners who broke the law a check that exceeds the amount that our government supplies to our valiant and heroic Gold Star Families is shameful, reprehensible, and morally indignant,” they wrote.

Comparisons have been made to the payouts for 9/11 victims. A DHS attorney said the payouts could amount to more than what some families of 9/11 victims received. While some officials pushed back on the comparison, saying the U.S. government was not responsible for 9/11.

As the fund stands under current law, there is no overall cap on total benefits that can be paid; however, there is a cap for non-economic loss as a result of cancer at $250,000 and non-economic loss not resulting from cancer at $90,000. For cases where a 9/11-related health condition causes death, the presumed award provided in the fund’s regulations for noneconomic loss is $250,000 plus an additional $100,000 for the person’s spouse and each dependent.”

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said that the news was “another way President Biden is putting America last.”

“Lawyers in his own administration admit payouts to illegal immigrants could be more than the families of the fallen from 9/11 received,” he said. “Disgraceful.”

Meanwhile, advocates for 9/11 victims and their families said in a statement the news was a “shock” to them given they are working to persuade Congress and the administration to fund payments for those who they say were wrongfully kept from compensation.