Great Lakes Wire

Some are claiming that illegal immigrants are receiving baby formula while Michigan residents are not and are blaming President Joe Biden for this situation. 

After a sudden plant-shutdown of large baby formula producer Abbott Nutrition in February, the whole country is being plagued by a formula shortage.

"Many metro Detroit stores have limited supplies of baby formula, limiting purchases," the Detroit Free Press said in a May 17 post to its official Twitter account.

FDA officials have acknowledged problems. 

“A serious problem across the FDA portfolio, where there are a limited number of manufacturers," FDA associate Peter Pitts said, according to The Washington Post. "Making baby formula is a sophisticated, expensive proposition, so consolidation is going to happen. The downside is when one of those facilities goes offline.”

The FDA is claimed to have delayed a whistleblower report from late last year. Meanwhile, a Florida lawmaker said he has found proof that the Biden administration is supplying undocumented immigrants at the southern border with baby formula, a move she said contributes to Biden's "America last agenda." Stores across the country are falling short when it comes to supplying consumers with the infant formula that is necessary.

After getting a report from a border patrol agent that the southern border has a baby formula stockpile for illegal migrants, Congresswoman Kat Cammack made a trip to the border to investigate on her own, Fox Business reported. Following her trip she was confident that there were "multiple stock warehouses filled with baby formula." This comes during a crisis for American formula-reliant moms who are experiencing a major shortage of these supplies.

“They are sending pallets, pallets of baby formula to the border,” Cammack said, according to the Washington Examiner. “Meanwhile, in our own district at home, we cannot find baby formula. It is not the children's fault at all. But what is infuriating to me is that this is another example of the America last agenda that the Biden administration continues to perpetuate.”

On May 11, Cammack posted two comparison photos on her Twitter, one she received from a border patrol agent showing the full stockpile shelves at the southern border, and the other of a bare local grocery store shelf which could have baby formula.

The formula shortage began with an incident on Feb. 17 when Abbott Nutrition voluntarily recalled its Sturgis-manufactured products and shut down the plant after reports that four infants fell ill from bacterial infection and two died after consuming formula produced in the Michigan manufacturing plant, Fortune reported. A whistleblower report, submitted to the FDA in October 2021, claimed additional health and safety compliance issues at the facility and contributed to a formal inspection by the agency in early 2022. While a number of issues have added to shortfalls in the amount of formula on store shelves, The Observer claims that the Food and Drug Administration's delays is one of the key ones.

The publication claimed the FDA's delayed reaction to whistleblower reports of tainted formula back in October of last year is being blamed. The Observer asserts that it wasn't until January 2022 that the FDA began an inquiry into food safety practices at the facility in Sturgis, Michigan – three months following the first reports. Then, it was not until Feb. 17 that the FDA warned consumers about certain powdered infant formula products from the Sturgis plant and Abbott closed the facility while initiating a recall. According to ClickonDetroit, stores shelves including at Target and CVS in areas such as Farmington Hills, Oak Park, Redford Township and Livonia, are almost empty with no information on when they will be restocked, with some limiting purchase quantities per person.