The far-left American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is aiming sharp criticism at President Joe Biden for claiming this week that a plan to give $450,000 reparation payouts to illegal border crossers is “not going to happen.”

Last month, reports circulated that Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) were working to settle with a number of border crossers represented by the ACLU, who claim they have suffered trauma as a result of former President Trump’s “Zero Tolerance” policy that was briefly imposed in 2019. The settlement would give each border crosser about $450,000 and family units about $1 million. The total cost of the payouts would reach $1 billion.

When asked about the payouts, Biden said, “that’s not going to happen,” but ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero responded later that “Biden may not have been fully briefed about the actions of his very own Justice Department” as they negotiate the settlement. “If [Biden] follows through on what he said, the president is abandoning a core campaign promise to do justice for the thousands of separated families,” Romero added.

“We respectfully remind President Biden that he called these actions ‘criminal’ in a debate with then-President Trump, and campaigned on remedying and rectifying the lawlessness of the Trump administration. We call on President Biden to right the wrongs of this national tragedy,” Romero continued.

As Breitbart News notes, $450,000 payouts to border crossers would far exceed the compensation provided to the victims of the 9/11 Islamic terror attacks and of the Boston Marathon bombings. The single payout for a border crosser could feed 42 American families for an entire year. The total cost of the payouts could provide homes to nearly 80,000 homeless Americans for a year or could forgive student loan debt for more than 27,000 American college students and graduates.

“Illegals first, Americans last” is the Biden administration mantra.