Biden Administration Owes More Than $200,000 to a Texas Hospital Treating Migrant Children

By Mary Webber First Posted: May 27, 2021 08:35 PM EDT

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has yet to reimburse a Texas hospital more than $200,000 in healthcare costs for taking care of migrant children.

According to a Fox News report, Midland Memorial Hospital has been treating migrant children after the Department of Health and Human Services had opened an intake facility for unaccompanied minors in March.

However, the hospital has not received any payment from the federal government in return, according to the public relations manager for the hospital, Tasa Richardson.

Richardson confirmed that the hospital has been providing healthcare services to 40 individuals from the migrant facility.

Richardson noted that the care had totaled hospital charges of $206,287, with the claims submitted through Point Comfort for federal direction.

Texas Rep. August Pfluger is now calling on HHS to pay what they owe the Texas hospital. In addition, the congressman had said he earlier had verbal assurances from Biden administration officials about the reimbursement.

Pfluger noted how shameful it is to business in Texas, adding that hospitals have to pay the price for the Biden administration's border crisis.

Meanwhile, HHS did not immediately comment on the matter. It is not yet clear if the payment to the Texas hospital was forthcoming and just delayed or if HHS has intentions to pay for the total amount.

Migrant Children in Detention Facilities

Advocates are now growing increasingly concerned about the conditions in migrant children's shelters.

Leecia Welch, an attorney at the nonprofit National Center for Youth Law, said they saw a lot of very traumatized children, according to an NPR report.

Welch was referring to the conditions in the tent shelters at Fort Bliss, adding that the children told them that a lot of the girls in the tent were crying.

Welch added that the children needed to talk to someone as they were having thoughts of self-harm.

The Biden administration is currently caring for almost 20,000 migrant children who came to the United States without their parents. Most of them are staying in the emergency shelters run by the HHS.

The facilities include a convention center in Dallas, a coliseum in San Antonio, and a former oil field in Midland, Texas.

A senior administration official noted that the average stay at the shelters has declined to about 30 days instead of the previous 45 days.

Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra confirmed that the Biden administration is throwing out plans to house "tender age" migrant children at a military base in the Texas desert due to concerns about subpar conditions, according to a CBS News report.

Becerra said that they only have kids at the Fort Bliss facility aged 12 to 17.

Democratic Congresswoman Veronica Escobar had expressed her concern about putting young children at Fort Bliss, which is currently housing 4,500 teenage boys and girls.

Neha Desai, a National Center for Youth Law attorney, said that it is shocking that the federal government ever thought of sending young children to a setting that fails to meet child welfare standards.

WATCH: Biden administration scrambles to respond to the surge of migrant children at the U.S. border - from PBS News Hour