Politics Families Separated at the Border May Get Up to $450,000 in Compensation Under Biden Administration: Report Thousands of migrant children were separated from their families during former President Donald Trump's "zero-tolerance" policy before he reversed the practice By Aaron Parsley Aaron Parsley Aaron Parsley has been a part of PEOPLE's digital team for more than 15 years. People Editorial Guidelines Published on November 1, 2021 08:50 AM Share Tweet Pin Email Honduran asylum-seeker, 2, cries as her mother is searched and detained near the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018, in McAllen, Texas. Photo: John Moore/Getty Some migrant families who were separated at the U.S. border with Mexico during the Trump administration may receive thousands of dollars in compensation for the ordeal and any damages the policy may have caused them, The New York Times reports. Officials in President Joe Biden's administration are negotiating with lawyers representing the families, who could get up to $450,000 for each member who was directly affected by the family separation policy, according to the Times. Sources told the paper that negotiations are ongoing, however, and that some family members may receive much less than that amount. (A White House spokesman referred PEOPLE's questions about the Times report to the Department of Justice, where a spokeswoman declined to comment.) More than 5,500 children were separated from their families under President Donald Trump's controversial "zero-tolerance" immigration policy before he signed an executive order in June 2018 reversing the practice, which had drawn overwhelming backlash. While the policy was in place, Border Patrol agents charged adult migrants with illegally entering the U.S., detained them and then sent their children to shelters across the country. The Most Haunting Images from the Migrant Crisis at the U.S.-Mexico Border — and How You Can Help Central American migrant children remain outside the Puente Nuevo border station in the municipality of Matamoros, in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, in October 2019. Abraham Pineda Jácome/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock The Biden administration continued the work of reuniting families earlier this year after the president signed an executive order which created the Task Force on the Reunification of Families. Some parents who were deported after they were separated from their children have been allowed to return to the U.S. for a limited time as part of the reunion. 'We Need to Take Away Children': Startling Details from Internal Report on Family Separation Under Trump The Times reports that in addition to financial compensation, the negotiations on a settlement with affected families includes access to mental health services like counseling for parents and kids who were torn apart.