The American Civil Liberties Union countered President Biden's claim that his administration is not considering payments of up to $450,000 to illegal immigrants who had been separated from their families under the previous administration.
Biden had insisted that the story was "garbage" in response to a question from Fox News' Peter Doocy on Wednesday.
"Mr. President, as you're leaving for your overseas trip, there were reports that were surfacing that your administration is planning to pay illegal immigrants who are separated from their families at the border," Doocy said. "Up to $450,000 each, possibly a million dollars per family. Do you think that that might incentivize more people to come over illegally?"
"If you guys keep sending that garbage out? Yeah, but it's not true," Biden shot back.
"So this is a garbage report?" Doocy asked.
"Yeah, OK," Biden replied. "That's not going to happen."
Yet ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero told Fox News that the plan is very much in the works.
"President Biden may not have been fully briefed about the actions of his very own Justice Department as it carefully deliberated and considered the crimes committed against thousands of families separated from their children as an intentional governmental policy," Romero said.
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"But if he follows through on what he said, the president is abandoning a core campaign promise to do justice for the thousands of separated families," he added. "We respectfully remind President Biden that he called these actions ‘criminal’ in a debate with then-President Trump and campaigned on remedying and rectifying the lawlessness of the Trump administration. We call on President Biden to right the wrongs of this national tragedy."