The Biden administration is reportedly shelling out $60 million per week to care for the more than 16,000 illegal immigrant minors being housed in Department of Health and Human Services shelters.
The dollar figure comes from an analysis of government data obtained by The Washington Post.
As the number of illegal immigrant unaccompanied minors pouring over the border has surged in the past several weeks, HHS swiftly filled the 7,700 available beds in its shelters. The Post noted the cost of housing each minor is about $290 daily.
In addition, about 8,500 minors are living in emergency facilities in convention centers, converted oil worker camps, and military bases.
The cost of these emergency sites is 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,” said Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for HHS’s Administration for Children and Families.
He told the Post that, far exceeding the paper’s calculation, the average daily cost per minor is “approximately $775 per day based on past experience.”
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