Holding facilities at the nation's border were not built "to be housing tens of thousands" of unaccompanied children, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Monday, while warning if Congress does not pass funding legislation, his department and Homeland Security will run out of money in July.
He also decried Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' calling the detention centers "concentration camps," as being "outrageous," insisting to Fox News' "Overtime Outnumbered" that HHS is providing a "safe, secure environment" for unaccompanied migrant children.
"They have three square meals a day," he said. "They get two snacks; they are getting education services; they get recreation. We get funding from Congress. We are paying $200-$1,200 a day per kid, so they are in a good safe, healthy environment."
However, the system is "overwhelmed," and "these are not good conditions for kids to be in," he acknowledged.
Even if the money runs out, the children will still be taken care of through the life and safety exemption from the appropriations law, said Azar, but it will be "based on IOUs and with government employees who are not getting paid, like a government shutdown."
Earlier on Monday, The Associated Press reported that most of the children were removed from a remote Border Patrol station near El Paso after reports that they were caring for each other and did not have adequate food, water, or sanitation and that many of them were sick.
Azar said a bipartisan package is moving in Congress, and he urged that it be passed quickly, as "we cannot afford for this thing to go through July."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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