The Obama administration predicted last spring that the number of unaccompanied illegal immigrant minors detained illegally entering the U.S. in 2015 would more than double last year’s numbers.
An internal PowerPoint presentation prepared for Congress, dated April 22, 2014 and obtained by the Washington Examiner reveals that last year the Obama administration anticipated the number of unaccompanied illegal immigrant children would reach 127,000 in 2015. The document also correctly anticipated that the number of unaccompanied children would reach 60,000 in 2014.
“Using the same cost assumptions used for FY 2014, the cost to accommodate 127,000 [unaccompanied alien children] in FY 2015 is $2 billion. No change is assumed in the average length of star of cost per UAC,” the presentation reads.
To be sure, 2015 has seen a drop in the level of illegal immigration by unaccompanied minors from last year’s surge, however it is on pace to see the second highest influx.
Additionally, the PowerPoint revealed that — despite admonitions that it was caught off guard by the influx of illegal immigrant children last summer — the administration had predicted the surge of tens of thousands of illegal immigrants earlier that year.
In light of the document, the Washington Examiner reports that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), a 2016 presidential candidate, is pressing the Department of Health and Human Services for more information and a slew of documents.
In a letter to HHS Sec. Sylvia Burwell, obtained by the Washington Examiner, Cruz wrote that the PowerPoint “raises significant questions about whether the administration has been truthful with the American people and Congress about its knowledge of the scope of the UAC problem.”
Cruz further charged the administration with considering strategies to deal with the matter that are “arguably intended to deceive the American people and Congress” as well as questions whether the explanation for the children’s migration north have been massaged.
The Republican presidential contender continued to raise concerns that the agency may be “corner cutting” with its UAC referral process and highlights there may be a misuse of Homeland Security Department funds for HHS purposes. He also raised questions about the use of funds abroad to stem the UAC influx.
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