Tens of thousands of immigrant children who crossed the southern border alone and were released to an adult sponsor in the United States have been enrolled in public schools nationwide under President Joe Biden, putting educators in a bind.
Over the past three years, more than 8 million people have been encountered at the southern border, including nearly 500,000 unaccompanied children, which does not include children who arrived with a family member.
The impact of so many children arriving in the country and enrolling in schools nationwide has not been insignificant, according to immigration policy experts.
“Although the majority of U.S. schools receiving unaccompanied minors and other immigrant children are not new to serving this population, many educators have described the number of newcomers arriving in the 2023-24 school year as unprecedented,” said Julie Sugarman, associate director of K-12 education research at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, in an email.
Children who come across the southern border are protected from immediate removal in most cases and will be transferred from Border Patrol custody to the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS will then look for a relative or parent in the U.S. to release the child as he or she awaits immigration proceedings years down the road, though the child may be let go to an unrelated adult if a family member cannot be found.
“They have a right — just like other children living in their community — to enroll in local schools regardless of their or their sponsors’ actual or perceived immigration or citizenship status,” the HHS website states. “State laws also require children to attend school up to a certain age.”
This particular influx of children into the country has caught educators by surprise.
Read more at Washingtonexaminer.com
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