Health and Human Services will not touch money for key priorities in its plan to shift a small portion of its funding to oversight of minors detained while crossing the border, Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday.
Azar told reporters during a briefing on Thursday that the agency will wall off opioid, mental health, and emergency funding as it cuts 0.2 percent from its overall budget. Yahoo News reported Wednesday that HHS will redirect up to $266 million from its budget to the oversight of illegal minors.
“This is very routine with end of the year funding,” Azar told reporters of the transfer request. “This was done at least twice in Obama administration.”
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HHS oversees care for minors detained while crossing the border. It has also responsibility for minors separated from their families while crossing the border, due to a Trump administration policy instituted in April. The administration’s policy was rescinded and a federal judge ordered the administration in June to reunite families separated under the policy.
Azar said that the broken immigration system under President Barack Obama led to an “influx of children that we have to care for.”
He added that the transfer was a precaution for the possibility that more funding would be needed.
“HHS does not control number of children that come in to the country,” he said.
Yahoo reported on Wednesday that a part of the funding, nearly $80 million, would come from other refugee programs within HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, which oversees care for the detained minors. Currently there are more than 11,000 minors in HHS’ care.
Another $13.3 million will come from the National Cancer Institute, and $5.7 million from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, according to Yahoo.
