The Department of Health and Human Services has spent more than $182 million funding the housing, entertainment and food of unaccompanied illegal immigrant minors, a conservative watchdog reveals.
Documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request by Judicial Watch show that HHS paid the Baptist Children and Family Services (BCFS) $182,129,786 for the “basic shelter care” of 2,400 unaccompanied minors (UAC) over several months this year.
Judicial Watch reported the group spent $104,215,608 on UACs at Fort Sill and $77,914,178 on UACs at Lackland Air Force Base.
The charges, Judicial Watch noted, amount to about $86,846.34 per UAC at Fort Sill from June 12 to October 18. The charges for the remaining 1,200 UACs at Lackland AFB came out to a $64,928 cost per minor from May 18 to September 18.
The group further highlighted “extravagant high-tech equipment and lavish benefits” including laptops, big screen TVs, cell phones, $75 in daily food expenses, and pregnancy tests.
“It is outrageous that the Obama administration spent nearly $200 million of taxpayer funds to provide illegal alien children with the types of extravagant high-tech equipment and lavish benefits many American families cannot even afford for their own children,” said Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton.
The group further questioned the average $88,293 pay for members of the BCFS’ Incident Management Team over a period of four months.
“Obama’s lawlessness resulted in an illegal alien ‘surge’ that has cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in 2014,” Fitton added. “Based on his new lawless amnesty plans, we can expect hundreds of millions more in taxpayer costs for the resulting wave of illegal aliens trying to take advantage of Obama’s illegal nullification of our nation’s immigration laws.”
The group noted that the BCFS’s project has an end date of September 30, 2016.
Judicial Watch pulled out some of line items from the “Budget Information and Project Narrative portions of the BCFS applications funded in calendar 2014” for the two facilities.
The BCFS application for the Ft. Sill facility includes the following expenses:
• “Summary Budget by Objective Class … 1200 Emergency Surge Beds, June 12, 2014 – October 18, 2014″ – $104,215,608
• “BCFS HHS proposed to operate a team of highly qualified professionals as outlined below … Incident Management Team … comprised of 30 members … for a 120 day event” – $2,648,800.
• ” [H]otel accommodations 822 staff x $125 hotel rate per night divided by 2 (two staff per room, will share) plus 20 individual rooms will be added – $6,765,000″
• “Food will be provided by a local catering service at $75 per day for 3 meals and 2 snacks. The meal plan is estimated to provide 1200 UACs and 822 staff at a minimum: $75 x 2022 individuals (staff + youth) x 120 days – $18,198,000″ [EDITOR’S NOTE: According to the USDA, the cost to feed a teenager per week in the U.S. is roughly $71.70 – or approximately $10 per day.]
• “Medical supply expenses include the cost of first aid kits, latex gloves, lice shampoo, pregnancy and urine tests … Total medical service and supply reimbursement is requested in the amount of $1,120,400.”
• “Recreational items will include board games, soccer balls, basket balls, jump ropes, bracelet making kits, yarn, puzzles, arts and crafts, decks of cards, and eye-hand coordination game sets. Reimbursement is requested for $180,000.”
• “Educational items will include … tempera paint, paint markers, paint brushes, easel brushes, art paper … Crayons, multicultural crayons … for $180,000.”
• “Laptop Kits … 100 Kits … 5 Laptops per kit – $500 per kit … $200,000″
• “VOIP Phone Kits … 80 kits … 10 cell phones per kit with International call capabilities and radio … $160,000″
The BCFS application for the Lackland AFB facility includes the following in addition to many of the above:
• “Summary Budget by Object Class … 1200 Emergency Surge Beds, May 18, 2014 – September 18, 2014″ – $77,914,178
• “Utility expenses will include cable television (video screen/projector set up – due to the large dormitory set and configuration to ensure large group seatings can view movies, sports, etc.) and is estimated at $5,000 per a month x 4 months – $20,000.”
• “In addition, contact with family members is imperative and part of BCFS’s daily programing in which each client is affording the opportunity to call their families twice every week … 1200 UACs x 2 calls x 20 minutes – 48,000 minutes a week x .75 x 16 weeks – $576,000.”
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