The Justice Department is reportedly ending settlement negotiations with migrants who were separated from their children as they sought to cross the border to seek asylum.

The department was negotiating monetary damages for families who were separated under the Trump administration in 2018. The administration had planned to pay $1 billion or more to the affected individuals, with payments of as much as $450,000 per family member separated.

A senior administration official told The Washington Post on Thursday, however, that they “were under the impression” the Justice Department asked plaintiffs to make an offer short of their $450,000 request, but that they refused to make one. The official said “that amount was a nonstarter for the White House,” leading the department to walk away from negotiations.

Families have sought an average of $3.4 million, according to The Wall Street Journal, while the American Civil Liberties Union sought to take the compensation a step further, arguing in a lawsuit on behalf of some of those affected that the U.S. should provide the families with a pathway to remain in the country.

Rather than granting a settlement, “The government will … move to litigate each of the federal lawsuits filed by families seeking monetary damages for the lasting psychological trauma they say the prolonged separations caused,” The Journal said, citing the ACLU’s Lee Gelernt.

In a different statement to CNN, Gelernt said the U.S. government “deliberately abused young children,” and called the Biden administration “shameful” for ending negotiations.

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