Mexico is not paying for any border walls, nor are they paying to house migrant children held far too long in detention. Instead, the American taxpayer is, and where those taxpayer dollars are taken from is just shocking.
1475: number of migrant children the Trump administration had lost track of in April.
1500: number of migrant children they've lost track of today.
It's time to take action, it's time for them to fix this. https://t.co/lkpsP9K5fG
— Adam Schiff (@AdamSchiff) September 20, 2018
According to Yahoo News:
‘The Department of Health and Human Services is diverting millions of dollars in funding from a number of programs, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, to pay for housing for the growing population of detained immigrant children.
‘In a letter sent to Sen. Patty Murray, D.-Wash., and obtained by Yahoo News, HHS Secretary Alex Azar outlined his plan to reallocate up to $266 million in funding for the current fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30, to the Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) program in the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).’
Less money for AIDS patients and cancer research, more money for jailing children, Part II https://t.co/IMYEVFp6Sv
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) September 20, 2018
You read that correctly, but it gets even worse. Money for cancer and HIV research, from head start, addiction research and assistance, and shelters that house domestic violence and sexual assault victims will now be used, instead, to fund holding migrant children in tent cities. Somehow, children have become a bigger threat to our country than cancer, which killed more than 600,000 Americans in 2017.
— Is It Over Yet? ? (@GDC42526708) September 20, 2018
Those diverted funds total close to $80 million.
‘Nearly $80 million of that money will come from other refugee support programs within ORR, which have seen their needs significantly diminished as the Trump administration makes drastic cuts to the annual refugee numbers. The rest is being taken from other programs, including $16.7 million from Head Start, $5.7 million from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program and $13.3 million from the National Cancer Institute. Money is also being diverted from programs dedicated to mental and maternal health, women’s shelters and substance abuse.
‘According to data from the Office of Refugee Resettlement obtained by Yahoo News, there were 13,312 immigrant children in federal custody as of Wednesday, Sept. 19, with ORR’s existing facilities at 92 percent capacity.’
This is unacceptable!
“The revelation echoes an admission in April by the Department of Health and Human Services that the government had similarly lost track of an additional 1,475 migrant children it had moved out of shelters last year.”#WhereAreTheChildren https://t.co/gipvFHUsRO
— RAICES (@RAICESTEXAS) September 20, 2018
According to the article, Trump administration officials claim that the reason the number of detained children has risen is due to an influx of unaccompanied minors crossing the border. Fact checks proved that to be untrue. There aren’t more children coming now than under President Obama, they’re simply being held for much longer than they previously were.
Featured image screenshot via YouTube
