Migrants are suffering. Will increased funding help?
A new funding law gives the Trump administration trust it hasn’t earned.
This month, Congress allocated $4.2 billion to address the humanitarian crisis for migrants in US custody. Some money will go to the Border Patrol, which operates the detention centers where preteens improvise diapers for sick toddlers and adults report being told to drink toilet water. Most of it, however, will go to the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the migrant shelters where people are eventually transferred.
Perhaps HHS will use the money to award another no-bid contract to Comprehensive Health Services. CHS is the only for-profit contractor that runs migrant shelters for children, and its facility in Homestead, Florida, is by far the system’s largest. The company is on track to take in its 500 millionth HHS dollar this fall, at a rate of $775 per day per child.
Where does this money go? Not to English classes, legal aid, or recreation—HHS canceled these required services last month, citing budget constraints. And not to basic care: advocates who visited Homestead report unsanitary facilities, delays for medical treatment, a lack of translators, and general emotional neglect.
