By Tyler Dukes, News & Observer reporter
Raleigh, N.C. A bipartisan U.S. Senate committee this week concluded that the federal government’s failed oversight of a program to shelter unaccompanied migrant children cost taxpayers $32 million for several planned facilities that will never open, including one in North Carolina.
The report from the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations was released Tuesday after a year-long probe focusing on two companies, VisionQuest National and New Horizon Group Home. Both firms received multimillion-dollar grants from the federal Department of Health and Human Services to house children swept up by immigration officials while traveling alone or separated from their families.