Taxpayer funds covered free laptops, big screen TVs, $75 per child per day for food, pregnancy tests, and “multicultural crayons”

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced that on September 9, 2014, it received documents from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revealing that the Obama administration paid Baptist Children and Family Services (BCFS) $182,129,786 to provide “basic shelter care” to 2,400 “unaccompanied alien children” (UAC) for four months in 2014. The BCFS budget included charges for $104,215,608 for UACs at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and an additional $77,914,178 for UACs at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.

The start date of BCFS’s contract was October 1, 2013, but it was signed on June 27, 2014.  The project’s end date of September 30, 2016, suggests that the Obama administration anticipates that the “surge” will continue until near the end of his presidency.

According to the documents obtained by Judicial Watch, the cost to the American taxpayer was $86,846.34 per illegal alien child at Ft. Sill, for a total to $104,215,608 for 1,200 UACs from June 12 to October 18. The bill also included $2,648,800 in compensation for 30 members of the BCFS “Incident Management Team” (IMT), for a total to $88,293 per IMT member for the four-month period.

The $77,914,178 to care for 1,200 children at Lackland AFB amounted to a cost to the taxpayer of $64,928 per illegal alien child from May 18 to September 18. The Lackland bill included $20,000 for a “cable television screen/projector set up” and 20 shower stalls at $1,000 each.

Judicial Watch obtained the documents in response to an August 1, 2014, Freedom of Information Act request seeking BCFS applications for funding, correspondence between the HHS Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and BCFS, and correspondence within ACF relating to BCFS. The records obtained by Judicial Watch from the HHS Administration for Children and Families include the “Budget Information and Project Narrative portions of the BCFS applications funded in calendar 2014” for both the Ft. Sill and the Lackland AFB facilities.

The BCFS application for the Ft. Sill facility includes the following expenses:

  • “Summary Budget by Objective Class … 1200 Emergency Surge Beds, June 12, 2014 – October 18, 2014” – $104,215,608
  • “BCFS HHS proposed to operate a team of highly qualified professionals as outlined below … Incident Management Team  … comprised of 30 members … for a 120 day event” – $2,648,800.
  • “ [H]otel accommodations 822 staff x $125 hotel rate per night divided by 2 (two staff per room, will share) plus 20 individual rooms will be added –$6,765,000”
  • “Food will be provided by a local catering service at $75 per day for 3 meals and 2 snacks. The meal plan is estimated to provide 1200 UACs and 822 staff at a minimum: $75 x 2022 individuals (staff + youth) x 120 days – $18,198,000”  [EDITOR’S NOTE: According to the USDA, the cost to feed a teenager per week in the U.S. is roughly $71.70 – or approximately $10 per day.]
  • “Medical supply expenses include the cost of first aid kits, latex gloves, lice shampoo, pregnancy and urine tests … Total medical service and supply reimbursement   is requested in the amount of $1,120,400.”
  • “Recreational items will include board games, soccer balls, basket balls, jump ropes, bracelet making kits, yarn, puzzles, arts and crafts, decks of cards, and eye-hand coordination game sets. Reimbursement is requested for $180,000.”
  • “Educational items will include … tempera paint, paint markers, paint brushes, easel brushes, art paper … Crayons, multicultural crayons … for $180,000.”
  • “Laptop Kits … 100 Kits … 5 Laptops per kit – $500 per kit … $200,000”
  • “VOIP Phone Kits … 80 kits … 10 cell phones per kit with International call capabilities and radio … $160,000”

The BCFS application for the Lackland AFB facility includes the following in addition to many of the above:

  • “Summary Budget by Object Class … 1200 Emergency Surge Beds, May 18, 2014 – September 18, 2014” – $77,914,178
  • “Utility expenses will include cable television (video screen/projector set up – due to the large dormitory set and configuration to ensure large group seatings can view movies, sports, etc.) and is estimated at $5,000 per a month x 4 months – $20,000.”
  • “In addition, contact with family members is imperative and part of BCFS’s daily programing in which each client is affording the opportunity to call their families twice every week … 1200 UACs x 2 calls x 20 minutes – 48,000 minutes a week x .75 x 16 weeks – $576,000.”
  • “Shower Stalls … Additional show heads required … 20 stalls at $1,000 a piece … $80,000.” [EDITOR’S NOTE: Shower stalls at Home Depot can be purchased for as low as $163.71.]

“It is outrageous that the Obama administration spent nearly $200 million of taxpayer funds to provide illegal alien children with the types of extravagant high-tech equipment and lavish benefits many American families cannot even afford for their own children,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “And very few American workers are bringing home the $80,000 the Obama administration pays the BCFS’s Incident Management Team for just four months’ work.  Obama’s lawlessness resulted in an illegal alien  ‘surge‘ that has cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in 2014.  Based on his new lawless amnesty plans, we can expect hundreds of millions more in taxpayer costs for the resulting wave of illegal aliens trying to take advantage of Obama’s illegal nullification of our nation’s immigration laws.”