Joe Biden’s administration has granted an $86 million contract for hotel rooms to hold about 1,200 illegal migrants, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed.
As the migrant crisis has been overwhelming the U.S.-Mexico border in recent weeks, Biden has been mulling different strategies to mitigate the surge he started.
“It’s a sign of growing numbers of migrant families trying to come to the U.S. — in addition to already overwhelming numbers of kids crossing the border without their parents or legal guardians. Both trends appear to be straining government resources,” Axios reported Saturday.
The six-month hotel contract is through a Texas-based nonprofit called Endeavors, but the contract could reportedly be extended and expanded.
The hotels will be near border areas, including in Arizona and Texas, though it’s not known which hotels would hold the migrants.
Axios noted that “hotel rooms are likely a safer option than border patrol stations”, they don’t have to follow the same “safety protocols that official government detention spaces do,” presumably including COVID-19 screening.
This comes amid reports that Biden is mulling airlifting migrants to the Canadian border to take pressure off the overwhelmed southern U.S. border.