Biden's $450K Reparations for Border Crossers Exceeds Payments to 9/11 Victims, American Military Families

A plan is being circulated by President Joe Biden’s administration to provide border crossers, subjected to former President Trump’s “Zero Tolerance” policy, with $450,000 reparations-style payouts that would exceed payments provided to American victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and American families of United States service members who die in combat.

This week, as Breitbart News reported, the Biden administration is weighing whether to provide border crossers — who were subjected to the Zero Tolerance policy — with $450,000 each as part of a payout in lawsuits filed.

In some instances, a family unit could secure about $1 million from the payout and overall, the payouts could cost American taxpayers more than $1 billion. Lawyers representing the border crossers have argued that each family unit should get $3.4 million in payouts.

Such payouts would exceed the money that has gone to thousands of American survivors of the 9/11 Islamic terrorist attacks. In 2001, the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) was created to compensate Americans who lost loved ones on 9/11 and those who survived the attacks.

Since then, Congress has had to reauthorize the fund and other funds meant for 9/11 victims — with public pressure — to ensure that Americans with long-lasting physical injuries and health problems as a result of the attacks are compensated.

As of December 2020, about $7.76 billion have been awarded to more than 34,400 9/11 victims. This indicates that, on average, each 9/11 victim has received about $225,000 — half of what the Biden administration is considering for payouts to border crossers.

Likewise, when American military families lose loved ones in active duty or inactive duty training, they are provided with “death gratuity” which amounts to a $100,000 tax-free payment. This compensation is more than four times less than what Biden is considering providing to border crossers.

Trump had instituted the Zero Tolerance policy at the United States-Mexico border in 2018 to reduce illegal immigration. The policy had been utilized since at least before 2001.

As a result of the policy, adult border crossers were often put into separate holding facilities from the children they arrived with at the southern border. Since then, the border crossers who were subjected to the policy have sued the federal government.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter here.

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