Republican lawmakers are blasting reports that the Biden administration is discussing paying almost half a million dollars per person to illegal immigrants who were separated from their families at the southern border during the Trump administration — calling it “insanity,” “unacceptable” and a “slap in the face.”

First reported by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services are considering the payments in order to settle lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and others on behalf of families who crossed into the US from Mexico illegally to seek asylum. The families were separated under former President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy in 2018.

While the average demand in each lawsuit amounts to around $3.4 million per family, the Biden administration is considering $450,000 per person — around $1 million per family.

Republicans — many of whom supported Trump’s immigration policies — took to Twitter to lambaste the potential payouts.

“Insanity. Rewarding illegal immigrants with hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars is the ULTIMATE insult to law-abiding citizens,” Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) wrote.

“President Biden wants to send the IRS to surveil your bank account while cutting checks—with your money—to people who’ve broken our laws.”

House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) echoed Womack’s sentiments, calling it a “slap in the face.”

“Pure insanity. The Biden administration is reportedly looking to pay $450,000 to illegal immigrants who knowingly broke the law,” he tweeted. “It’s a slap in the face to our law-abiding citizens who wake up, go to work, and pay their taxes.”

http://globalreportage.org/2021/10/29/gop-blasts-possible-450k-payout-to-illegal-immigrant-families-by-biden/

The Biden administration could pay out up to $1 billion to immigrant families that were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border during the Trump administration.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services could end up paying out close to $1 million per immigrant family that was separated at the border. Sources told the Journal that around $450,000 a person is being considered, but that figure could change depending on each family’s circumstances.

Discussions of payouts have taken place over the course of the past few months between lawyers representing immigrant families that are suing the federal government and the government’s own lawyers, according to the Journal. Some government lawyers apparently viewed the payout amounts as excessive.

Margo Schlanger, a Homeland Security officer for civil rights and civil liberties during the Obama administration, told the Journal, “Damage class actions in this kind of case are pretty rare, it’s hard to think of a recent comparison.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is representing multiple families in a lawsuit over the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy. In January, it issued a statement urging the incoming Biden administration to act quickly on the issue.

“The incoming administration must reunite the separated families in the United States, but we cannot stop there. These families deserve citizenship, resources, care, and a commitment that family separation will never happen again.”

The Biden administration created the Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families, and its latest progress report, released in September, confirmed it had reunified 50 children separated from their parents and provided access to behavioral health services. Another 2,171 children have been reunified through a court order and from the efforts of nongovernmental organizations.

However, the same report confirmed 1,727 children have not yet been reunified with their families, accounting for 33 percent of all those identified as separated from their parents by the Homeland Security Department under the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy.

The ACLU is still battling its lawsuit with the Biden administration and according to the Journal, not all the families it’s representing will be eligible for a potential financial settlement.

The Office of the Inspector General conducted a review of the Justice Department’s zero tolerance policy and found that under former attorney general Jeff Sessions, the agency “failed to effectively prepare for, or manage, the implementation of the zero tolerance policy.”

http://globalreportage.org/2021/10/29/biden-administration-considering-giving-450000-per-person-to-immigrants-separated-at-the-border/

Thousands of New York city workers including FDNY and NYPD officers are protesting against New York City Mayor’s vaccine mandate. Workers were recorded chanting ‘Let’s Go Brandon‘, the viral phrase used against Biden.

Thousands of city workers could be put on unpaid leaves if they don’t get the shot by Friday. That is Mayor Bill de Blasio’s threat, with vaccination rates at several large city agencies, including the NYPD and the FDNYP, lagging behind the general population.

“It’s time now. If you don’t want to get vaccinated, you’ll be put on unpaid leave. Well, the vast majority of human beings go to work to get paid. And also, I think for a lot of our first responders, there’s a calling. They believe in the work, they care about the work. Those two factors I think are going to cause the vast majority to get vaccinated,” Mayor de Blasio said.

http://globalreportage.org/2021/10/25/thousands-of-nypd-fdny-and-other-new-york-city-workers-protest-against-nycs-vaccine-mandates/

A whistleblower who defected from the Chinese Communist Party claimed China deliberately released COVID-19 at a military tournament just two months before the outbreak began spreading across the world.

Ex-Chinese Communist Party insider Wei Jingsheng said The World Military Games in October 2019 may have been COVID’s first super spreader event after numerous athletes became mysteriously ill.

“I thought the Chinese government would take this opportunity to spread the virus during the Military Games, as many foreigners would show up there,” he said in the new Sky News documentary What Really Happened in Wuhan, adding the Chinese military was conducting an “unusual exercise” at the time.

“[I knew] of the possibility of the Chinese government using some strange weapons, including biological weapons, because I knew they were doing experiments of that sort,” he said.

Though the athletes showed COVID-like symptoms, they were never tested for the coronavirus.

Jingsheng’s claim is backed up by a report by the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee released last month concluding COVID-19 was likely released from the Wuhan Institute of Virology prior to September 12, 2019.

The report also claimed the 2019 Military World Games was likely the “earlier super spreader event in the world.”

“At the same time, athletes at the Military World Games became sick with symptoms similar to COVID-19. Some of them carried the virus back to their home countries — creating one of the earliest super spreader events in the world,” wrote Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas).

http://globalreportage.org/2021/10/25/chinese-whistleblower-claims-covid-outbreak-intentional-happened-in-october-2019-at-military-world-games-in-wuhan/

Italy has seen an explosion of protests against the introduction of its vaccine passport scheme, with dockers in numerous towns and cities vowing to block ports until the government scraps the ‘green pass’ law.

Workers who try to do their jobs without taking the vaccine will be suspended without pay and face a fine of up to 1,500 euros.

According to Donelli, despite the media trying to downplay the protest numbers, there are around 10,000 demonstrators at the port of Trieste.

http://globalreportage.org/2021/10/24/italy-rocked-by-nationwide-protests-as-resistance-against-vaccine-passport-scheme-explodes/

A new poll which included over 2,000 participants finds that a clear majority of Brits – 54 per cent – think COVID-19 was leaked from the Wuhan lab, with just 25 per cent saying they don’t believe that to be the case.

The survey, which was was conducted by JL, found that an additional 21 per cent say they don’t know where the virus originated

The results of the poll contradict statements made recently by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who both said they doubted the lab leak theory.

As we previously highlighted, an even higher number of Americans – 58 per cent – also believe that the virus was leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, with even 43% of Democrats sharing that view.

http://globalreportage.org/2021/10/24/clear-majority-of-brits-think-covid-19-was-leaked-from-wuhan-lab/