Trump Admin will pay for immigration detention by diverting millions of dollars from cancer research, other programs

The Department of Health and Social Services (HHS) spends up to $ 266 million this fiscal year on the detention of immigrant children Yahoo News reported.

In a letter to Washington, Senator Patty Murray, HHS Secretary Alex Azar, outlined her plan to redistribute funds previously used for cancer research, other refugee programs and Head Start.

Funds will be sent to the Unaccompanied Foreign Children Program (UAC), overseen by the Refugee Resettlement Office (RRB).

"Nearly $ 80 million of this money will come from other refugee assistance programs within the ORR, which saw their needs decrease significantly while the Trump administration drastically reduces the annual number of refugees, Yahoo News reported. "The rest comes from other programs, including $ 16.7 million from Head Start, $ 5.7 million from Ryan White's HIV / AIDS program, and $ 13.3 million from the National Cancer Institute. shelters for women and drug addiction. "

The children of immigrants are housed in a camp located at a facility near the Mexican border in Tornillo, Texas. The federal government will divert up to $ 266 million to pay for the detention of children. REUTERS / Mike Blake / Photo File

Yahoo News reported that the ORR had 13,312 immigrant children in federal custody as of Wednesday, citing program numbers.

As of May 2017, the federal authorities were hosting 2,400 immigrant children, according to The New York Times. The number of children crossing the border has not increased compared to previous years. But the number of minors in detention has increased because of the slow release of the government.

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"This is not a story of historic flight arrivals," said Mark Greenberg, former head of HHS. Yahoo News. "The story is essentially about a significant slowdown in the release of children."

HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan said The hill "the need for additional funding has increased since FY 2011, due to the continued increase in the number of unaccompanied foreign children at the border. "Cash transfers have been" a temporary solution to the sad consequence of a broken immigration system ".

Federal facilities are reaching full capacity, Yahoo News I said.

HHS said earlier this month that it would keep open the tent city in Tornillo, Texas. The facility opened in June as a 450-bed capacity building. The closure was scheduled for July, but the government has instead expanded to 3,800 beds and will remain open for the rest of the year, CBS News reported.

The government ended its "zero tolerance" policy, which called for the prosecution of all people entering the United States illegally and for the separation of families. Many immigrant families remain separated, The hill reported.