New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo released an open letter to President Donald Trump on Saturday that calls the administration’s spending to detain immigrant children “shocking and irresponsible.”
The letter from the Democratic governor starts out by saying, “Dear President Trump, It is both shocking and irresponsible – but sadly not surprising – that your administration is spending over a billion dollars to continue the immoral and un-American policy of detaining immigrant children.”
CNN has previously reported that the US government doles out about $1 billion to nonprofits and local government agencies each year to house and provide services for detained migrant children.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment on the letter.
The Trump administration’s immigration policy has been under heightened scrutiny in recent weeks. After facing a backlash, the President reversed course and signed an executive order to halt the separation of undocumented immigrant families at the border. At the end of last month, a federal judge ordered the government to reunite separated families.
In his open letter to the President, Cuomo wrote, “it is the height of hypocrisy that you are spending nearly a billion dollars detaining children while trying to slash funding for programs and services on which millions of Americans rely.”
The letter goes on to list the governor’s suggestions for alternative ways to spend the money, including an increase in the amount of money devoted to federal grants that help US students pay for college and on employment and job training.
CNN’s Blake Ellis, Melanie Hicken, Bob Ortega contributed to this report.