The federal government has spent $13 billion paying for and housing unaccompanied minors at the southern border since 2012, federal data says.
The data was revealed by budget watchdog group OpenTheBooks.com.
“The chaos on America’s southern border has had unintended consequence – a human catastrophe hurting tens of thousands of unaccompanied, defenseless children,” wrote OpenTheBooks.com founder Adam Andrzejewski. “Despite generous taxpayer funding, the federal infrastructure to provide for these children and ensure their safety is woefully incompetent.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded more than 150,000 unaccompanied minor encounters at the southwest border in 2022 alone, a record high. The U.S. spent $2.1 billion sponsoring unaccompanied minors last year. The figure averages approximately $18,000 per minor encounter at the border, according to analysis by OpenTheBooks.com
The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) defines unaccompanied minors as those who have “no lawful immigration status in the United States,” are “under 18 years of age,” and have “no parent or legal guardian in the United States or no parent or legal guardian in the United States is available to provide care and physical custody.”
But despite the money spent sponsoring unaccompanied minors at the border, some reports indicate that as many as 85,000 unaccompanied minors are missing and unaccounted for by the federal government.
ORR is responsible for “making and implementing placement decisions” and “ensuring that the interests of the child are considered in decisions related to care and custody.” The office also states that it is its duty to release unaccompanied minors to “qualified sponsors and family members who are determined to be capable of providing for the child’s physical and mental well-being.”
It also notes that unaccompanied minors are “especially vulnerable to human trafficking, exploitation, and abuse.”
The ORR also coordinates with several different care providers that they also fund. The office’s budget has increased substantially since 2017, when it gave out $950 million in grants. The budget for fiscal year 2023, meanwhile, is $2.7 billion.
While most spending, $7.8 billion, took place in Texas, another $1.4 billion was spent in New York and $660 million in Florida.
This is an outrageous waste of money.
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