President Biden strongly denied a rumored immigration policy during a testy back and forth with a Fox News reporter on Tuesday.
Peter Doocy referenced a Wall Street Journal report from last week claiming that the Biden administration is considering paying $450,000 to migrant families affected by the Trump-era policy of separating parents and children.
The article, which cited “people familiar with the matter” as sources, said the payouts were meant to compensate those who had been targeted by Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration stance. Under Biden’s reported policy, each impacted individual would receive $450,000, amounting to roughly $1 million per family, although the article said “the final numbers could shift.”
At the press conference, Doocy asked, “…As you were leaving for your overseas trip, there were reports that that were surfacing that your administration is planning to pay illegal immigrants who were separated from their parents at the border up to $450,000 each, possibly a million dollars per family.
“Do you think that might incentivize more people to come over illegally?”
Biden, who returned from a 5-day trip to Europe the previous night, wasted no time clarifying his position.
“If you guys keep sending that garbage out, yeah,” the president responded. “But it’s not true.”
When asked if the WSJ report was in fact “garbage,” Biden doubled down. “That’s not gonna happen,” he said of the $450,000 figure.
The Q&A took place after Biden gave a speech celebrating the news that 5 to 11-year-olds have been approved to receive the Pfizer vaccine.
