President Donald Trump likes to talk in superlatives. According to him, the economy is doing better than at any time in U.S. history (it’s not.) His inauguration was attended by more people than any other (it wasn’t.) His handling of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico was “one of the best jobs ever” (it wasn’t – 2975 people died.)
But here’s one statistic you probably won’t hear Trump bragging about.
The New York Times just reported that “the overall number of migrant children under detention has exploded to the highest ever recorded.”
The details are sickening – and heartbreaking.
“Population levels at federally contracted shelters for migrant children have quietly shot up more than fivefold since last summer, according to data obtained by The New York Times, reaching a total of 12,800 this month. There were 2,400 such children in custody in May 2017.”
In addition to the devastating and in many cases likely permanent cost to these children’s mental health, the cost to U.S. taxpayers is huge.
NBC News in June reported that the “cost of holding migrant children who have been separated from their parents in newly created ‘tent cities’ is $775 per person per night, according to an official at the Department of Health and Human Services.”