Child-Separation Policy Cost at Least $40 Million in Two Months

The Department of Health and Human Services has spent “at least $40 million in the past two months” on caring for immigrant children separated at the border and efforts to reunify them with their families, Politico reports. Housing the migrant children reportedly costs “about $1.5 million per day,” or $30 million total. An additional $10 million was spent on hiring “100 case managers and about 50 support staff” to handle the influx of case work in the aftermath of the Trump administration’s child-separation policy. The effort has forced HHS to divert more than $200 million from other HHS accounts, including ones devoted to HIV/AIDS programs. The White House is assessing the Department of Homeland Security’s request for more money for housing and reunification. That request will likely displease fiscal conservatives in Congress who have to approve the additional funding.