The southwest border is “more secure than at any point in history,” but Americans are still paying an enormous price for the Biden administration’s unprecedented illegal immigration crisis, including a new multi-million-dollar investment to support the influx of underage migrants still living in the United States. The government calls them Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC), though the overwhelming majority are not really children but rather young adults in their teens and some have criminal histories. Under U.S. law the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which is a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is responsible for caring for UAC, which are overwhelmingly males over the age of 14, according to government figures. They come from Guatemala (32%), Honduras (20%), Mexico (20%), El Salvador (8%), and “other” (19%). More than half a million entered the country during the Biden administration and Uncle Sam has spent a fortune to provide them with housing, food, an education, medical care, and recreational activities before and after they are released to sponsors throughout the country.
This month ORR announced it is awarding $258 million to provide UAC with home study and post release services, a substantial allocation that comes less than a year after the agency doled out $500 million to give the illegal alien minors “high-quality” residential services. That money went to group homes that specialize in caring for specific populations such as teen mothers, shelters that provide a child-friendly setting for kids of all ages and transitional foster care for those under the age of 13, including sibling groups, pregnant or parenting teens and children with specific individualized needs. Under that grant UAC received educational and clinical services as well as medical care, recreation, and individual counseling. Recipients of the taxpayer funds committed to providing private spaces for meetings with attorneys and a separate bedroom for isolation or quarantine for those infected with a communicable disease. “Ideally, there should be at least one isolation-capable bedroom, for every 25 children, equipped with a door that closes while allowing line-of-sight through a small window,” according to last year’s grant document, which was issued in late August. The “distinct illnesses” of the UAC were described to include varicella and influenza.
This month’s $258 million award will provide underage migrants with post release services and help the illegal aliens navigate family reunification challenges, trauma recovery, and integration into their new communities in the U.S. “These services are to be provided in a manner that is sensitive to each unaccompanied alien child’s individual needs and in a way they can understand, regardless of spoken language, reading comprehension, or disability, to ensure meaningful access for all eligible children, including those with limited English proficiency,” the lengthy grant document states. Appropriate services and treatments will be provided to special populations such as UAC involved in the juvenile justice system and those at high risk of involvement as well as UAC with disabilities and those at risk for worker exploitation or labor trafficking. American taxpayers will also provide legal services under the latest grant, English language classes and general education courses, medical and behavioral healthcare, tutoring, gang prevention services, family stabilization or counseling and an array of other benefits. This is unlikely to be the last allocation for the continuous support of the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant minors that have entered the country through the Mexican border in recent years.
It is worth mentioning that in this most recent grant, the Trump administration is specifically banning the use of the funds for any diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEI and DEIA) activities. That includes any research related to DEI or DEIA, activities that discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or other protected traits, and any efforts that promote a “discriminatory equity ideology.” The administration is also forbidding grant recipients from using the funds to support any services or activities that “inculcate or promote gender ideology.” The fact remains however, that disastrous open border policies of the past will keep American taxpayers on the hook for years to come. The government even funds a leftwing group’s $200 million annual program that provides illegal alien minors with free legal assistance.
