U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., threw his support behind an amendment from U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) “to block President Joe Biden’s reported plan to provide $450,000 in taxpayer dollars to those illegal immigrants who broke our laws.”
After a report from the Wall Street Journal that his administration was considering paying up to $450,000 for individuals and up to $1 million to families who entered the country illegally and were separated, Biden pushed back, insisting the report was “not true.”
More than two dozen other Republicans, including U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., backed the amendment.
“Since his candidacy, President Biden has repeatedly signaled that America’s borders are open,” Rubio said. “It’s no wonder illegal immigration has skyrocketed as a result. Now, the Biden administration is seeking to pay large sums of money to those who sought to illegally cross our border. This is complete and utter lunacy. I will not allow American taxpayers to be forced into paying reparations to those who broke the law.”
“Biden’s open border policies have reached a new crazy level,” Daines said. “Montana families are struggling with inflation and skyrocketing costs on everything from gas to groceries because of Biden’s wasteful spending policies, and now the President wants to give hundreds of thousands of dollars to illegal immigrants. Because of Biden, our southern border has been taken over by Mexican cartels and this effort will only continue to incentivize illegal immigration making it worse. This is a gut punch to the American taxpayer.”
“Giving out potentially billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to people who broke federal law to enter the country is outrageous and an insult to the American people,” McConnell said. “ I am proud to support this amendment to ensure the Biden administration doesn’t do this.”