Donald Trump’s administration has spent roughly $33m (£26.3m) in the past seven weeks to staff an immigrant detention centre for unaccompanied minors in Texas that has been completely empty since last month, according to officials.

The last child left the Homestead detention centre on 3 August, and yet the sprawling facilities have reportedly remained staffed to house as many as 1,200 immigrants at once.

Jonathan Hayes, director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, acknowledged the soaring figures during a congressional hearing on Wednesday about immigrant children in US custody and their specific mental health needs.

The revelations about how much has been spent by the federal government to keep the empty facilities staffed were made when Mr Hayes was asked by Wisconsin Democrat Mark Pocan if his office was in fact spending $600 (£478) a day to pay for each of the 1,200 available beds.

“It’s the beds, but yes sir,” Mr Hayes said.

People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Show all 16 1 /16 People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Demonstrators march during the "Day Without Immigrants" protest in Chicago, Illinois, February 16, 2017. Theopolis Waters/Reuters People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Demonstrators march during the "Day Without Immigrants" protest in Washington, DC, U.S., February 16, 2017. Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. The crowd, which grew to well over a thousand participants, marched from the Austin City Hall to the Texas State Capital. Across the country hundreds of restaurants and eateries are closing for the day to protest President Trump's immigration policies and to highlight the contributions of immigrants to U.S. business and life. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants AUSTIN, TX - FEBRUARY 16: Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Demonstrators march during the "Day Without Immigrants" protest in Chicago, Illinois, February 16, 2017. Theopolis Waters/Reuters People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Demonstrators march during the "Day Without Immigrants" protest in Chicago, Illinois, February 16, 2017. Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. The crowd, which grew to well over a thousand participants, marched from the Austin City Hall to the Texas State Capital. Across the country hundreds of restaurants and eateries are closing for the day to protest President Trump's immigration policies and to highlight the contributions of immigrants to U.S. business and life. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants Protesters march in the streets outside the Texas State Capital on 'A Day Without Immigrants' February 16, 2017 in Austin, Texas. The crowd, which grew to well over a thousand participants marched from the Austin City Hall to the Texas State Capital. Across the country hundreds of restaurants and eateries are closing for the day to protest President Trump's immigration policies and to highlight the contributions of immigrants to U.S. business and life. Drew Anthony Smith/Getty People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants High school student Kathia Suarez holds up a sign as she protests with others outside the Grayson County courthouse in downtown Sherman, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. LM Otero/AP People strike across America for A Day Without Immigrants High school senior Vicky Sosa holds a sign outside the Grayson County courthouse in downtown Sherman, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. In an action called "A Day Without Immigrants," immigrants across the country are expected to stay home from school, work and close businesses to show how critical they are to the U.S. economy and way of life. LM Otero/AP

He said the initial idea was to keep the facilities open after sudden influxes of unaccompanied minors left detention centres inundated with newly-arriving migrants earlier this year. Reopening and re-staffing the Homestead centre would take “a minimum of 90 to 120 days,” according to Mr Hayes.

The plan was made to keep the facilities open “given the extreme uncertainty of referrals coming across our nation's southern border and how many kids we might have to care for,” Mr Hayes said.

Closing Homestead “isn't really a switch that we're ready to turn off at this point”, he added.

Mr Pocan then chided the official over the staggering costs to keep the Homestead facilities open for “invisible, imaginary, nonexistent human beings".

While officials saw a high of nearly 16,000 unaccompanied migrant children in US custody last year, there are currently about 5,700, according to the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Mr Trump and his administration were criticised by Democrats at the hearing for taking hard-line immigration policies at the US-Mexico border that they said only further contributed to the humanitarian crisis in the region.

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The president was forced to roll back several of those policies, including one that extended the amount of time migrant children were in custody by requiring every single person in a household to receive fingerprint background checks before a child can be released to anyone in that family unit.