Two years ago the Biden Regime sought to settle a baseless lawsuit filed by illegal aliens who were arrested and prosecuted at the border during then Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ ill-fated Zero Tolerance program for illegal entry at the border by rewarding those prosecuted illegal aliens with $450,000 each and Lawful Permanent Residency. When the settlement plan came to light, the public and Congress were outraged, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) went back to the negotiation table, planning to delay any settlement until the public controversy died down. Which was what I predicted.
The Biden Regime is back, and they have a new settlement with the illegal aliens. But they will have give up the previous promise of green cards, for the moment, and instead get only the illegal Biden Regime Parole Amnesty, free attorneys, which is also illegal, and years of counseling. No monetary award, though the financial claims are in separate lawsuits.
But there is a special provision in the settlement which ends detention and criminal prosecution of illegal aliens for entering the United States in violation of Title 8 United States Code Section 1324, Improper Entry By An Alien, if they bring a minor child with them.
The federal government will not be allowed to separate migrant families under a zero-tolerance policy like the controversial measure former President Donald Trump’s administration pursued, according to a settlement deal filed Monday.
The settlement also allows those affected by the separations to apply for parole and a work permit in the US, as well as a special asylum process.
The settlement reached between the Biden administration and the ACLU, which still must be approved in federal court, would mark the end of the years long case that initially ended the Trump administration’s policy.
The settlement agreement outlines standards designed to prevent future family separations, except in limited circumstances, for an eight-year period…
The settlement would also set up special support services for families separated at the border under the previous administration, including immigration legal services and three additional years of behavioral health counseling. The settlement doesn’t include monetary compensation, which some families are seeking in separate claims.
Federal Government Reaches Settlement Deal With ACLU Over Migrant Family Separations, by Priscilla Alvarez and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN, October 16, 2023
Also of interest is this as yet undescribed “special asylum process.” What could that be? Asylum has a particular legal definition, and being arrested and prosecuted for illegal entry is not the basis for an asylum claim. So this special asylum process will likely be another unlawful Biden amnesty for this particular group of illegal aliens.
Most important, though, is that the DOJ has decided that if persons are arrested, they cannot be separated from their family. A very strange take as the DOJ routinely separates arrested Americans and other aliens in a myriad of criminal cases.
“The fact that someone enters the United States unlawfully is not a basis for future separations. It’s only if someone has committed a serious felony offense,” a senior Justice Department official said Monday.
So, will the DOJ no longer be arresting anyone with children except for a serious felony offense? Or is this a special policy that only applies to illegal entry, in most cases a misdemeanor? Will other misdemeanants no longer be arrested or detained after arrest? Is it legal to make arrest decisions based on whether the criminal has children? The implications of this new policy on arrests could be quite far reaching. We know that many January 6 defendants were arrested for misdemeanors and held near indefinitely pre-trial and many had children.
The House of Representatives has a chance to quash this settlement by adding language to their appropriations bills. Let us hope they act.
