Biden Backs Payments to Families Separated at the Border!

[Tomconroy]

https://news.yahoo.com/biden-backs-payment-families-separated-161727420.html

Our President has more courage than some.

[OnDoutside]

1. And that's the right thing to do, BUT

Democrats need to be laying the groundwork NOW to paint the picture of what Trump and the Republicans did was close to genocide. Otherwise, they'll do it to the democrats.

[forthemiddle]

2. I don't see this as a winning campaign issue

Even if the payments are less than $450,000, how do we convince the American public that paying someone for crossing our borders illegally is a good thing?

It already created backlash right here on DU when it was introduced last week. I don’t think we gain anything by trying to blame it on TFG, the voters just won’t buy it. I hope I’m proven wrong.

[DFW]

3. They would not be paying people for having crossed the border illegally

They would be compensating them for illegal, cruel and inhumane treatment after they were apprehended, which should not be encouraged at all, either at our borders, or anywhere within our borders.

[forthemiddle]

4. That's my point

Do you really believe the average voter is going to see that nuance?
No they are going to see the ads saying “Cross the border illegally, and the President (who happens to be a Democrat) will pay you $450,000.”
I’ve already seen the talking points, and if we can actually turn the narrative, great, but I don’t see how it happens.
Right or wrong, they were treated inhumanly because they crossed the border illegally in the first place.
We can never forget that in 2016 , one of the biggest election issues, was the border. We all remember how that turned out.

[In It to Win It]

27. Agreed

I don’t think people will care about the nuance. They won’t care to learn about the nuance.

[SMC22307]

39. They NEVER see the nuance and we'd be idiots for *assuming* they will.

This is a disastrous idea.

[MichMan]

10. What message will be heard in Mexico and Central America?

That the US is paying people $450k to come to the country ?

[DFW]

19. They won't hear that except from Republicans

They sure won't be hearing it from large numbers of their contemporaries, because they will have a hard time locating people who got $450,000. They will be rather difficult to locate, I suspect. They are far more likely to encounter their neighbor who sold his last possessions to try to cross the border and returned home penniless and in debt to the coyotes who unsuccessfully tried to get them across the first time.

[MichMan]

20. I know how quickly rumors can travel through social media and word of mouth

We see it everyday here in this country. I have no doubts this will happen because people hear what they want to believe

[DFW]

22. In this particular case

I think the lack of suddenly-rich would-be immigrants who will be saying "not me" will soon vastly outnumber those who believe the rumor, since there will be no one around to substantiate it.

Of course, I don't live south of the Texas border, so I don't know how strong the rumor mill is down there. Here in Europe, word travels pretty quickly, and if an unsubstantiated rumor is spread and debunked, it dies a quick death.

[snowybirdie]

5. Yesterday

The President said it was for families whose children were taken away from them at the border. How much is a child worth?

[forthemiddle]

8. I agree

I am not against the policy, per say, I’m against the backlash I think we will face.
I will be the first to admit I’m wrong, but I can’t see the average American loving this idea.

[OnDoutside]

7. It's about doing the right thing in compensating those who were

Treated appallingly and inhumanely by the United States government. Democrats should do the right thing but my point is that they need to lay the groundwork with the American people so that what the Trumplicans did is exposed and make it hard for them to twist it back at the Biden administration.

[jimfields33]

6. 450,000 per person is not a good strategy

African Americans were treated disgraceful and have gotten nothing.

[OnDoutside]

11. So never compensate ?

[UncleTomsEvilBrother]

17. Sure...

...along with African Americans.

[bikernks]

21. and Native Americans

and Asian Americans...

[OnDoutside]

34. Which is not what the poster is suggesting.

[cinematicdiversions]

23. Some of those eligible for compensation will be those whose children were separated under Obama.

Trump is the main villain here, of course, by codifying the unofficial policy. But these waters are muddier that we think.

Giving money to people actively breaking the law may be the right thing to do here. But it will never be anything but an unpopular stance. (And 450k is a ridiculously high amount of money.)

[SergeStorms]

9. Didn't Biden deny this at a press conference...

earlier in the week? I saw it with my own eyes.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but just be consistent with what you're telling the American people. The media will be branding Joe as a liar. Of course he'll never be in TFG's class when it comes to that. If TFG opened his mouth you could safely wager a lie was about to emerge.

[Devil Child]

12. He did n/t

[MichMan]

14. President Biden is on tape calling it garbage after being asked about it

Looks like no one in the administration told him anything about it.

They tried to walk back his statement the next day by saying he supports it, but only meant that the amount won't be $450k.

The RW is claiming then that it therefore could be $440k or even $475k , since neither is $450k.

[BlackSkimmer]

36. Yes. This confusing messaging is not good.

They need to be clear on this issue.

[Devil Child]

13. I was happier the other week when Biden opposed payouts

[BlackSkimmer]

37. I agree.

And this changing of positions, or so it seems, is just ridiculous.

[S/V Loner]

15. Terrible optics and the average voter....

is not going to see this the way some of us do.
If only trump, the cause of the situation, could be forced to pay. That would be justice though I am sure he is protected.

[MichMan]

16. Administration looked like fools on this issue

DOJ (or someone) leaks a news story about separated migrant parents & children given very large cash payments of $450k each. A few days later when asked about it, President Biden calls it garbage and states on TV that it absolutely isn't true.

ACLU releases a statement that it is indeed being worked on.

Next day, the administration releases their statement that they really are considering implementing that very same thing, but with the actual amount given being still unknown.

Makes President Biden look like he isn't even aware of what is going on, or that he just lied about it, which only feeds the RW agitators. Why the hell nobody briefed him about it is inept IMO.

Now the RW has video of the President calling something garbage that the administration now says they are planning on doing. They are going to have a field day with that clip.

[malletgirl02]

32. Biden admin leaks

Looks like Biden needs to do something to stop the leaks, or at least prevent his staff from hiding hings from him.

[UncleTomsEvilBrother]

18. This decision will siphon...

...votes from the base - African Americans, who are becoming more and more galvanized regarding reparations.

[SYFROYH]

24. Politically, it seems like letting the courts be the bad guy

Would be much better for Democrats.

[Lettuce Be]

25. Biden himself said this is absolutely untrue.

[Klaralven]

26. Do it and the ads will be used against Democrats 10 times an hour all next October

[subterranean]

28. Weren't these payments proposed as a settlement of a lawsuit?

The government isn’t proposing these payments out of the goodness of its heart. They’re doing it to settle a lawsuit that they stood a good chance of losing, in which case they would have to pay even more. I haven’t heard that mentioned much.

[NickB79]

29. This will go over as well as "Defund the Police" did

If you have to explain the nuances of it with a lot of backstory, the public will tune out.

Is it the right thing? Absolutely. Does it give the GOP a massive hammer of half-truth soundbites to beat Democrats with? Absolutely.

[Cattledog]

30. Blacks were separated for generations. No money.

The optics of this will loose us 2022 & 2024. The ads will write themselves.

[gulliver]

31. Payments, no. Help finding the kids yes.

We can't bring back the extra hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens who died of COVID (who didn't have to die but for Trump). We can't compensate everyone in the country for the financial and emotional costs we've endured thanks to Trump's lower end voters making the pandemic drag on longer (by refusing to get vaccinated).

There should be no payments to the foreign citizens Trump harmed. Help them find the kids. That's the least we can do. You can't write a check to compensate for a lost child any more than you can write a check to bring back the dead. All giving these folks checks will do is help put Trumpism back in power to separate more children from their parents. Use the power of the federal government to help search.

[Kingofalldems]

33. Interesting thread.

[LenaBaby61]

35. He may have more courage, but let this issue fool around and LOSE him the black vote.

I'm seeing African-Americans on social media so angry, that they're saying "IF he gives them all that money, let them vote for him."

The GQP will be running with this, and tell African-American's "Look at that your president's doing to you. he loves illegal aliens more than you." Yeah, like they can talk with their racist selves who won't vote for a voting rights bill at this very moment. I'll never fall for GQP US Taliban Party tricks, but the whole optics of this is horrible. Many African-Americans are screaming for reparations, and as many have said, what about Native Americans who are still on reservations and who are being kept from voting ONLY because they have P.O Box numbers, and No home addresses. What the hell .... Youngkin's kid tried to vote 2 times, which means he knew what the hell he was doing--he's white of course, so he can do whatever he wants to--yet Native Americans can't vote period because the have PO Boxes and no home address?

[SMC22307]

38. This will fucking kill us in the midterms.

Doesn't matter how many lovely new roads are put down or bridges repaired, this will kill us.

[Polybius]

40. OK, so I guess we're not winning in 2022

n/t

[Tomconroy]

41. Just by history it looks bad. But maybe Covid gets under control,

The stock market and the economy roar, Trump chokes on a doughnut... Who knows?

[tenderfoot]

42. This is such bullshit trolling

[WarGamer]

43. The mid-term ads write themselves...

[madville]

44. I'm beginning to think they want to lose Congress

I’d like to believe they really can’t be this tone deaf