Biden administration reportedly spending $60 million a week to house unaccompanied immigrant children 

The Washington Post reported this week that according to information from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Biden administration is spending about $60 million per week to fund the shelter and care of thousands of unaccompanied minors who have arrived at the Southern border in recent months.

The seven permanent shelters intended for unaccompanied minors were quickly filled to capacity in recent weeks with an influx of minors arriving at the border. With those 7,700 beds already full, the Biden administration has created temporary and emergency shelters at military bases, converted convention centers, and other locations.

The daily cost of sheltering a minor at the pop-up sites is two and a half times higher than the permanent facilities due to the high cost of procuring supplies and staff quickly.

Currently, minors are spending an average of 31 days in shelters before being processed and released to the custody of caretakers or family members in the United States. The average cost of sheltering each minor is approximately $24,000.

The Biden administration says it does not have plans to ask Congress for more funding in relation to the shelters, in spite of plans to open at least 10 emergency shelter sites in California and Texas in order to house the expected thousands more unaccompanied minors to arrive at the border.