Biden Has Spent $3 BILLION in Contracts To House Migrants

"P20210317AS-0488" (United States government work) by The White House

The Biden administration has spent $3 Billion in contracts to house unaccompanied children at the borders as they continue to deal with the surge of migrants crossing the border every day. 

According to reports, the Biden administration has awarded $3 Billion in contracts since February and over $2 Billion of which are suspiciously “no-bid” contracts that were awarded to three recipients. 

There were 18,890 unaccompanied children that were encountered in March – a number that is 100% increase from the already highest number that were recorded in the month of February. 

Accordingly, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated on Friday that authorities are still seeing around 270 children crossing the border each day. 

Mayorkas said, “We’re down to about 1,830 people per day right now,” referring to encounters at the border. He added, “Unfortunately, we’re still seeing a fairly high population of migrant children are coming across – 270 a day right now, the last 21 days.”

Meanwhile, the Biden administration was quick to blame the “root causes” of the migrant surge to violence, poverty and climate. The administration also throws the blame to the Trump administration stating that there was a “lack of preparedness” on their end. 

However, critics blamed the rollback of Trump-era policies for the surge of migrants as well as the decision of the Biden administration not to apply Title 42. 

Title 42 previously allows U.S. officials to expel migrants and unaccompanied children encountered crossing the borders. 

The rollback of Trump-era policies led to scenes of packed Border Patrol facilities to which children can be seen sleeping side by side in overcrowded facilities. The more relaxed policies by the Biden administration also fostered scenes of children being dropped and abandoned by smugglers at the border and exposed to harsh conditions. 

Although migrants facilities like those in Donna, Texas have now been emptied, the number of unaccompanied children housed in Health and Human Services has spiked from 11,000 in March to a shocking number of 22,000 in May. Due to this, the Biden administration has quickly reopened facilities across the border, including military bases. 

The Biden administration has faced criticism from Republicans for allowing the migrants to go inside the country in the first place. However, activists have expressed concern about how they are being treated. This includes lack of media access in the facilities and children allegedly not meeting with case managers. 

In a statement given to the Associated Press, HHS stated that the new child-migrant centers are “consistent with best practices/standards in emergency response or other humanitarian situations.”

Meanwhile, the government is paying for all the expenses that children incur to be able to travel to their sponsors. The administration also pays for adult sponsors to come and collect the minors that are being placed in their care. 

Vice President Kamal Harris, who was tapped to take charge of the ongoing crisis at the border has never visited nor made any press briefing to address the issue or inform the public of the ongoing crisis. 

In their defense, the Biden administration stated that the Vice President is tapped to address the “root causes” of the migrant surge. Recently, Harris met virtually with Guatemalan and Mexican leaders. She is also due to travel to the countries next month. 

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