By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-15 22:21:48 | Updated at 2025-01-16 00:53:39
2 hours ago
An Oklahoma school superintendent has sued the Biden Administration for a staggering $474 million over the cost of educating illegal migrant students.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters filed the lawsuit Tuesday seeking compensation for the 'severe financial and operational strain' the administration's border policies placed on Oklahoma's public schools.
Approximately 3,000 unaccompanied migrant children were sent to the Sooner State from 2021 to 2023, according to the filing.
The lawsuit stated that educating those children, 'imposes a significant financial burden on the State of Oklahoma.'
Financial data reported by the Oklahoma Cost Accounting System found that it cost $13,736 per student in the 2023-2024 school year.
'Given the approximated 3,000 undocumented, unaccompanied minors estimated to reside in Oklahoma, that results in an estimated additional cost to Oklahoma taxpayers approximately $41,208,000 since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration,' the lawsuit said.
Walters is seeking coverage for the cost of recruiting and retaining bilingual staff, additional school counselors, academic and language assessments, transportation, nutritional assistance and other assets needed to educate migrant children.
'While President Biden has neglected his responsibility to protect our borders for four years, hardworking Oklahomans are forced to cover the costs of his dereliction of duty,' Walters said.
Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters (pictured) sued the Biden Administration for a staggering $474 million over the cost of educating illegal migrant students
The lawsuit claims it cost Oklahoma taxpayers $41,208,000 to educate migrant students since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration
'This lawsuit is about accountability and ensuring that our children receive the quality education they deserve, free from the federal government's failures, even from a failed, outgoing administration. I will always fight for Oklahoma students and Oklahoma taxpayers.'
In his press release about the lawsuit, Walters used the $474 million figure, but that specific amount is not mentioned in the court filings.
However, Walters sent Vice President Kamala Harris a letter demanding $474.9 million from the federal government to reimburse taxpayers in November, reported The Oklahoman.
The figure was cited from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, an organization labeled as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center because of ties to white supremacist groups.
The figure is based on estimates, including that 41,766 children of undocumented migrants attended Oklahoma schools in 2023.
On the United States-Mexico border, the US Customs and Border Protection recorded 137,275 encounters with unaccompanied children in 2023, a 9.7 percent decrease from the year before.
Schools nationwide have been buckling under the pressure of accommodating an influx of migrant students.
Teachers and staff members at a Maine elementary school claim it has become plagued by violence and bullying amid an influx of migrants to the community - with one teacher even breaking down in tears as she recounted how she was assaulted.
The US Customs and Border Protection recorded 137,275 encounters with unaccompanied children on the United States-Mexico border in 2023. Pictured: migrants taken at the US border
Schools nationwide have been buckling under the pressure of accommodating an influx of migrant students. Pictured: A man and his children in a migrant caravan
She and many other staff members at Montello Elementary School in Lewiston pleaded with school district administrators on November 18 to take action amid the violence they say traumatized migrant children are bringing to the school environment.
They have argued that the trouble at the school has left them short-staffed as several teachers quit amid increasing class sizes, as literacy coaches are forced to plan the lessons, according to the Sun Journal.
Students at a Philadelphia school are eating lunch at 9 a.m. because the district is so crowded with immigrants that canteen dining slots have been staggered throughout the day.
Youngsters at Lincoln High School also lug their backpacks around all day because there are not enough lockers in a school that is now 1,000 kids above capacity.
Officials have added makeshift divisions to increase the number of available classrooms, but teachers say the new walls are too thin to stop noise and have fallen during lessons.
