Reuters/Getty/Business Insider
- Migrant children have been detained in "tent cities," without their parents, as part of the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" border policy.
- Housing a child in these locations costs an average of $775 per child per night, according to NBC.
- Business Insider research Trump hotels in DC, New York and Las Vegas all offering lower rates for suites than a night in the tents.
The detained children being kept away from their parents in tent cities could be put up in a Trump hotel suite for less than the US government is reportedly spending on them.
According to NBC News, it costs the Department of Health and Human Services an average of $775 per person per night to house detained children in the temporary shelters near the US border.
Business Insider found several suites available in the Trump Hotel range for less than that, including a junior suite in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., offered at $757 before taxes for the night of June 23.
Trump Hotels
A night in a junior suite is on offer for $757.
At Trump's New York hotel, just off Columbus Circle, a one-bedroom suite with a city view is available for $710 before taxes on July 3. The Las Vegas Trump hotel is offering a penthouse suite with a view of the strip for $710 on July 3.
The DC junior suites have a king-size bed with Trump-branded linen, a separate seating area with a 55-inch flat-screen TV, an "executive desk", and a chandelier. The bathrooms have two tubs, one of which is lined with marble, and come with high-end toiletries.
Photographs from one of the Trump administration's three tent cities, near Tornillo, Texas, show tent dormitories filled with bunk beds and a mobile medical unit based out of a truck.
Here is where they sleep:
Department of Health and Human Services
The tent cities have been created in response to Trump's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy, which saw more than 2,000 children separated from their parents in the policy's first six weeks, according to official figures.
This photograph shows what appears to be a row of portable toilets in the bottom-right.
Reuters/Mike Blake Migrant children are being held in a tent city in Texas near the US-Mexico border.
Officials told NBC the accommodation costs so much because of extra expense for security, air conditioning, medical workers and other government contractors, all brought in at short notice.
It costs less to keep children with their parents, according to NBC. Housing children with their parents in detention centers like the US Customs and Immigration Enforcement center in Dilley, Texas costs $298 per person per night.
Housing a person in a permanent facility, such as in Casa Padre in Brownsville, Texas, costs $256 per person per night.
Backlash against the administration's policy has surged as photographs and audio footage of detention centers reached the public domain. Hundreds protested outside of the Tornillo tent city on Sunday, calling for a change to Trump's immigration policies and the separation of families.