Record numbers of migrants are showing up at the US, Mexico border including here in Arizona. And it's costing you. A lot.
The Department of Homeland Security is spending $86.9 million to house migrant families in hotels along the border.
The contract will run through a non-profit called Endeavors. Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn is calling into question where the money is going.
Blackburn, R-Tenn., in a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and ICE acting Director Tae Johnson, is questioning the nonprofit's past financial disclosures, and how the new contract funds will be used.
Blackburn said that in 2018, Endeavors brought in "over $38 million in contributions and grants," and noted that "IRS filings show that nearly $22 million or almost half of those contributions went to salaries."
"This raises questions if half of the $86.9 million in ICE contract proceeds will likewise be allocated toward employee and executive compensation instead of migrant services or housing," Blackburn wrote.
"As the current contract stands, the cost to taxpayers for housing 1,200 migrant families for six months is about $71,000 per person," Blackburn wrote. "For a family of four, that amounts to a shocking $284,000 — enough to buy a small house."
Catch that? $71,000 per person. But, it's not a crisis.