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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.

Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF

Is the Biden administration considering giving up to $450,000 to all undocumented immigrants?

Wednesday, November 3, 2021

By Austin Tannenbaum

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The Biden administration is not considering making all undocumented immigrants eligible for up to $450,000.

Instead, the payouts would go only to immigrant families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border during the Trump administration, according to the Wall Street Journal, who spoke with "people familiar with the matter."

The Department of Homeland Security told The Washington Post that at least 5,500 children were taken away from their parents under Trump's "zero tolerance" border policy. Payouts could thus total around $2.5 billion — less than 0.1% of the federal government's revenue of $3.4 trillion in 2020.

The Wall Street Journal reported that about 940 legal claims related to family separation have been filed. Georgetown Law professor Heidi Li Feldman told The Washington Post that the government could face much larger payments were the litigation to go forward, as well as costly legal fees from defending all the cases.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Wall Street Journal U.S. in Talks to Pay Hundreds of Millions to Families Separated at Border

Washington Post Why the Biden administration would pay as much as $450,000 to separated immigrant families

Congressional Budget Office The Federal Budget in Fiscal Year 2020: An Infographic

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Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

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About fact briefs published on Gigafact

Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.