The White House on Monday batted away questions about controversial plans to pay compensation to families separated at the border - just days after President Biden said he was in favor of payments to people who suffered under the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy.
Last week Biden said reports he was planning to pay as much as $450,000 to separated families were 'garbage' before apparently backtracking.
The result has been an administration under pressure from both left and right to explain its plans.
But White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre offered no further clarity when asked about the issue during the daily briefing on Monday.
'I will direct you to the Department of Justice for any specifics on that,' she said.
'You've asked us this question.
'We have answered it and I will refer you to the Department of Justice on any specifics.'
White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre referred questions about compensation for separated families to the Department of Justice. It comes after a series of reversals about whether the administration was planning to pay compensation to families separated at the border under Trump and how much the payments would be
Biden initially dismissed the reports as 'garbage' but later delivered a passionate defense, saying 'the outrageous behavior of the last administration' meant it was right to compensate parents who had their children taken away from them at the border
Her reticence is a new departure for a White House that has been keen to respond to the reports.
Details surfaced first in the Wall Street Journal last week. It reported that the Biden administration was in talks to offer immigrant families separated at the border up to $450,000 a person in compensation.
Biden was asked about it last week and dismissed the claim as 'garbage.'
'But it's not true,' he said without getting into further details.
That attracted the anger of the American Civil Liberties Union, which said the
