Biden Administration Secures Contract for Hotels to House Migrants

According to BusinessInsider.com, the Biden administration has secured an $86 million contract for hotels to house migrants. The contract is with hotels near the border in Arizona and Texas to hold about 1,200 migrants, and will last six months. It was made through Endeavors, a non-profit agency. 

According to CNBC.com, on average it costs $134 a day at the border to maintain one adult detention bed, but the beds for children who have been separated from their parents cost $775 per person per night in a tent city. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) estimates an average stay of 44 days, but thousands of immigrants have been held far longer. 

Immigration agencies have used hotels in the past, as recently as last year for unaccompanied minors according to the New York Times. Hotels have usually served as overflow facilities during previous spikes in immigration and as staging areas for short periods of time ahead of traditional deportations. As of last August, ICE has detained at least 860 migrants at Quality Suites in San Diego; Hampton Inns in Phoenix and in McAllen and El Paso, Texas; a Comfort Suites Hotel in Miami; a Best Western in Los Angeles; and an Econo Lodge in Seattle.

However, as we have reported before, calling these migrants “illegal immigrants” is a misnomer. Those being housed in hotels for free have passed an initial “credible fear” test for asylum-seekers. Because of this, we rate the claim as selective.