(Washington Examiner) The Biden administration secretly paid a for-profit company $177 million to begin housing more than 1,000 migrant children this month in a vacant Hebrew school in North Carolina, according to leaked government communications outlining the deal.
The Washington Examiner obtained government contract documents that show the Department of Health and Human Services plans to hold up to 1,100 children and underage teenagers at the American Hebrew Academy in a residential neighborhood in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The federal government’s use of no-bid contracts has drawn the ire of watchdogs over transparency and cost concerns. HHS did not respond to a request for comment on this contract process.
“The main concern is that taxpayers’ money will be wasted on higher-than-necessary costs. Competing contracts is a proven method to identify qualified companies and get the best prices for the work sought,” Sean Moulton, a senior policy analyst at the Project on Government Oversight wrote in an email to the Washington Examiner. “Contracts for large amounts should be competed as much as possible because the potential savings to the taxpayer would be significant and well-worth the extra work needed to oversee the bidding process.”
The deal — made behind closed doors with New York-based Deployed Resources rather than through the normal public solicitation process — is the latest of backdoor payouts that President Joe Biden’s administration has made in secret in its attempt to downplay its response to the worsening migration crisis at the southern border.
In this instance, the Department of the Interior submitted a justification notice on behalf of HHS, outlining why it awarded the massive contract without opening the process to others. “Based on market research and a review of past contract actions, Deployed Resources has been identified as the best provider for this urgent and compelling requirement,” the DOI document obtained by the Washington Examiner stated.
Despite the government citing rising migrant crossings and a lack of infrastructure to respond to the situation, the Biden administration refuses to acknowledge the situation at the border as constituting a crisis. In May, nearly 240,000 people were encountered attempting to cross the southern border without permission, more than any other month in U.S. history.
Children between 13 and 17 years of age will be held at the Greensboro school for roughly one month before they are released to adults in the United States, most likely relatives and family friends. Upon release, more children from the border will be flown to the Greensboro shelter and held until release. The children are “unaccompanied,” meaning they came across the border without parents or guardians, often aided by cartels that charge their families thousands of dollars.
