Listen to this article

US President Joe Biden said on Saturday that the families of children separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border during the Trump administration should be compensated. However, the US Department of Justice is in settlement talks with affected families. Biden said that regardless of the circumstances, people who had their children taken from them under the Trump administration’s family separation policy, meant to deter families from crossing into the US illegally, should be remunerated. President Biden said, “If, in fact, because of the outrageous behavior of the last administration, you come across the border, whether it was legally or illegally, and you lost your child. You lost your child. It’s gone; you deserve some kind of compensation, no matter what the circumstance. What that will be I have no idea. I have no idea”.

President Biden created a task force shortly after taking office to attempt to reunify hundreds of children and parents affected by the policy, which was in place for several months during 2018 and sparked a domestic and international outcry. A person familiar with the talks informed a news outlet that the government was considering payments of around $450,000 to each person affected but has since changed the figure, though not dramatically. The discussions continue, and there is no guarantee the two sides will strike an agreement. Point to be noted that there are a large number of children separated from their parents under the policy of former President Donald Trump.

It is noteworthy that at least 5,500 children were split from their parents under President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance policy, under which parents were separated from their children to face criminal prosecution for crossing the border illegally. The court filings in a federal case in San Diego Inadequate tracking systems caused many to be apart for an extended time. The payments are designed to compensate for the psychological trauma. Moreover, attorneys for the families are also looking for permanent legal status in the United States for those separated under the practice, which a judge halted in June 2018; 6 days after Trump stopped it under international pressure.