The alien minors illegally flooding across the border are likely headed for public schools this fall.
Taxpayers may foot the bill for the education of the illegal-immigrant children flooding across the border when school resumes this fall.
“American taxpayers are being forced to pay the huge cost of providing schooling to every illegal immigrant under 18 (and many 18+) who is dropped inside the U.S.,” a GOP aide with knowledge of the situation e-mails National Review Online. “This is just a tiny slice of the bill taxpayers are being asked to absorb that we’re supposedly forbidden from discussing in polite company.”
In a “Dear Colleague letter” sent to all public-school districts on May 8, 2014, by the Departments of Justice and Education, federal officials reminded the schools of their obligation to provide equal educational opportunities under the law.
“To comply with these Federal civil rights laws [Titles IV and VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964], as well as the mandates of the Supreme Court, you must ensure that you do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin, and that students are not barred from enrolling in public schools at the elementary and secondary level on the basis of their own citizenship or immigration status or that of their parents or guardians,” the letter says in part. “While a district may restrict attendance to district residents, inquiring into students’ citizenship or immigration status, or that of their parents or guardians would not be relevant to establishing residency within the district.”
Zach Taylor, chairman of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers, told Newsmax the Obama administration has “orchestrated” the influx of immigrants at America’s southern border. “They are scattering them throughout the population of the United States in various states and putting the local school systems and people on notice that these kids will be attending school in August and September,” Taylor said. “Once they’re embedded in the population of the United States, the likelihood that they’ll be removed is somewhere between minus one and zero.”
Instead, various states are allocating funds in ways that will assist the alien children in the classroom. California has started giving more money to schools based on their enrollment of “low-income students, English learners and foster children,” according to the Sacramento Bee. Last week, a panel of lawmakers and educators in Nevada recommended that more funding be provided for students with limited English-language proficiency, according to a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“Parents who can afford [it] may send their kids to private school — while their taxes fund free education for illegal immigrants (who are obviously being given a free pass to stay),” the GOP aide explains. “These Americans’ own children’s education then suffers as a result of the impact on school resources.”
As a result, it is no surprise citizens have begun protesting and blocking the arrival of buses carrying illegal immigrants in Murrieta, Calif., the aide adds.
— Ryan Lovelace is a William F. Buckley Fellow at the National Review Institute.