Joe Biden says reports that illegal immigrants could get $450,000 are "garbage".

 

Illegal immigrant children in Florida in 2019. Politico/AP.

Joe Biden said today that reports that illegal immigrants could get up to $450,000 in a settlement from the Department of Justices are "garbage". Politico. The settlements were for illegal immigrant children that were separated from their parents under President Trump. 5500 people could be affected by the settlement but not all claims would have been approved. Biden seemed confused when he was asked about the claims by Fox News. He said that the payments would not happen. The ACLU condemned Biden's comments. 

My Comment:

What a strange story. The original Wall Street Journal story caused a huge about of outrage. Most people want these illegal immigrants deported or worse. Nobody outside of the far left wants them to get more money that basically anyone else in the country. And I don't buy any whining about children being separated, that's the parents fault for breaking the law. I have next to no sympathy for these people. 

Biden seemed surprised about this story which makes very little sense. The story went viral and was the talk of the day when it came out. Everyone was talking about it and how disgusted they were with it. I know I saw it multiple times that day. But somehow Biden wasn't informed?

There are a few options why Biden seemed confused. The first is the cynical one where he absolutely knew about these payments, saw how badly they were polling and decided to cut the program loose. This doesn't seem likely to me. Biden has not been that politically savvy and has not dropped unpopular programs before. He's not that smart. 

Another option is that Biden is so insulated that he did not realize what his own Justice Department was doing. That seems likely. Biden does not seem to watch the news like President Trump did and he only seems to know about what his aides bother to tell him. It's very possible that the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing. 

Finally, it seems very possible that this was a Biden moment. Biden seems confused on most days and is showing pretty obvious signs of dementia. It's very possible that he knew about this and simply forgot. We will know that is the case if the White House backs down on this. It could be true even if they decide to continue these payments. Biden's just not all there anymore. 

I do consider this an own goal for Biden. He had already pissed off Republicans and moderates with the original policy (and the anger was extreme). But now he has pissed off far left groups like the ACLU who have blasted his comments. In short nobody is happy with him, which seems to be the common theme in his presidency... 

Was the story even true though? I don't know. The original Wall Street Journal report was behind a paywall so I don't know what the source was. Everyone else seems to agree it was true though other than Joe Biden. And I don't believe things that Joe Biden says...