$7,000 a Night for a Cot: Fraud, Abuse, and a System That Failed Migrant Kids

Under the Biden administration, the number of unaccompanied minors entering the U.S. surged. CBP reported more than 400,000 encounters with unaccompanied children from 2021–2024, and HHS placed over 300,000 children with "sponsors" during that period. Meanwhile, a 2023 New York Times investigation found that HHS had lost contact with over 85,000 children after release to sponsors, an alarming breakdown in oversight that raised red flags about trafficking, labor exploitation, and fraud.

Becerra was Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2021-2024. It was his job to oversee housing the children in shelters or emergency intake sites, providing food, medical care, education, and safety, vetting and approving sponsors as well as conducting follow up and safety checks. As we now know, thousands of children were sent to non existent addresses and to unvetted people, never to be seen or heard from again. Despite the scale of the failures, no senior officials have faced legal consequences.

Now, Becerra is positioning himself for higher office in California and wants to be Governor? It’s infuriating.

That’s why First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli’s crackdown on trafficking and fraud matters. And it’s why Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton told Jesse Watters that California needs a dedicated investigative team to follow the money, expose the fraud, and hold people accountable.

Hilton has been highlighting Becerra’s role in the migrant‑child scandal including the Pomona facility that reportedly cost $7,000 per child per night. As Hilton put it, “You could stay in a presidential suite for that.” And he’s right.

A whistleblower even described the HHS process as an “assembly line,” where sponsors were approved with minimal vetting. Children were handed over to people who should never have been approved.

After billions spent, tens of thousands of migrant children unaccounted for, and documented cases of kids ending up in forced labor, exploitation, and trafficking networks, the public still has no clear answer to the most basic questions: Where did the money go? Who profited from this system? And how many children are suffering right now because federal oversight collapsed on his watch? Can Californians really trust Becerra to be our governor?

Vote for Steve Hilton and the golden ticket candidates. We need to turn this ship around before it sinks!