No less than 18,890 unattended adolescents were found by U.S. border authorities in March
The Biden administration is paying no less than $60 million a week to lodge more than 16,000 migrant children in federal facilities managed by the Department of Health and Human Services, reported by the Washington Post, which forewarns that costs are predicted to increase greatly in the coming months.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection disclosed on Thursday that over 172,000 people made an effort to enter the United States on the Southwest border in March, a 71% rise over February’s numbers. There were over fifty-three thousand families, according to CBP data. There were 18,890 unattended adolescents who were found by U.S. border authorities in March; increasing well above previous highs from May 2019 and June 2014.
The enormous increase of unattended adolescents during the border crisis has forced the Biden administration to spend $86.9 million of American taxpayer money over six months to lodge the migrant families in U.S. hotels.
Analysis now shows that the Biden will spend a minimum of $60 million per week to support migrant adolescents who came across the southern border.
The figure doesn’t cover the migrant tent sites.
The largest tent site is the migrant facility in Donna, Texas, which costs about sixteen million a month to run, reported by CBP officials. The Donna holding facility was at 729% of its capacity last month, and there were reports that the boys had to take turns sleeping on the floor. Another tent site is in Eagle Pass, Texas, and the Biden administration is reportedly debating opening another temporary facility in Arizona.
The Biden administration has opened at least ten sizeable emergency facilities to lodge the historic increase of unattended minors.
Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for HHS’s Administration for Children and Families, told the Washington Post that the costs of these emergency sites are more than 2½ times higher than the more-permanent shelters “due to the need to develop facilities quickly and hire significant staff over a short period of time.” Wolfe said the average daily cost per child is “approximately $775 per day based on past experience.”
“Teens and children are spending an average of 31 days in HHS custody before they are released to a vetted family member already in the United States or to an eligible sponsor, according to the most recent HHS data, so the government is spending about $24,000 for each minor held at the temporary facilities,” the Washington Post reported. “That doesn’t include time spent in a Border Patrol facility.”
The immigration crisis is predicted to get more challenging and more expensive in the coming months.
The Customs and Border Protection predicts that the number of unattended minors could be between 22,000 to 26,000 in September, according to leaked documents obtained by Axios.
Last month, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas declared the U.S. will not expel unattended minors who travel to the border.
“Some loving parents might send their child to traverse Mexico alone to reach the southern border — our southern border,” Mayorkas told “CBS This Morning.”
“I hope they don’t undertake that perilous journey,” Mayorkas said. “But if they do, we will not expel that young child. We will care for that young child and unite that child with a responsible parent.”