Influx of migrant children costs the public school system an estimated $2 billion per year: report

An estimated three million illegal immigrants poured into the country in fiscal year 2023, according to a report by the Heritage Foundation on the consequences of migrants on American schools. And, while there is not currently a reliable count of the total enrollment of children in public schools who were brought to the U.S. illegally, indications are that the influx is costing American taxpayers billions of dollars. 

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has encountered more than 470,000 unaccompanied migrant children since Joe Biden became president in 2021. Most of them have been enrolled in America's public schools, likely costing the public education system billions of dollars over the past 3 years, as public schools are required by law to enroll minors regardless of immigration status. 

The CBP encountered 145,474 accompanied and unaccompanied minors nationwide in FY 2023. Based on the national average spending of $16,345 per student, if each such child enrolled in public schools, it would increase national education spending by more than $2 billion for one year, according to the Heritage report's facesheet. 

Heritage scholars and two of the report's authors, Lindsey Burke and Lora Ries, told Fox News Digital that American parents already have enough to worry about regarding their kids' education with "woke curriculum and hyper-sexual content that the left is pushing."

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"Parents should not also have to worry about their kids going to the back of the line in terms of school resources, teacher attention, and academic rigor due to sudden and large influxes of illegal aliens into their schools and classrooms," they said. 

The report looked at instances in California, New York, Texas and Arizona where unaccompanied minors were sent to sponsors, according to data from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), a government agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). 

For example, in California, 11,121 unaccompanied migrant children were sent to sponsors. If all those children enrolled in public school, at the state average spending of $16,975 per pupil, that equates to an additional cost of about $189 million for one year.

The report similarly found that in New York, 8,477 unaccompanied migrant children were sent to sponsors. The state spends $28,261 on each pupil per year, making the total additional cost to taxpayers close to $240 million for one year. 

In Texas, 16,394 unaccompanied migrant children have been released to sponsors; with a cost of $13,900 per pupil, those additional students cumulatively cost close to an additional $228 million for one year. In Arizona, 861 unaccompanied migrant children were released to sponsors and if the state spends $11,625 per pupil annually, that means Arizona's taxpayers will foot the bill of more than $10 million in one year.

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Beyond the financial burden felt by the influx of migrants on the American school system, the report also highlighted that there has been an increase in the misuse of school property, classroom mismanagement and limited English proficiency, furthering hindering educational progress. 

In January, for example, New York City parents were furious with city officials after Brooklyn high school students were forced to stay home for virtual learning so the building could house migrants in the school gymnasium. There have also been reports that New York Public Schools has struggled to educate the 20,000 new migrant students who are enrolled in the 2023–2024 school year. 

In May, Chicago-area parents were angered when they found out that public schools were allowing migrant children to enroll without health documentation after years of COVID rules requiring vaccination records from students who were U.S. citizens. 

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Additionally, most unaccompanied children arriving in the U.S. do not speak English, which makes teaching laborious for teachers and learning difficult for students, given the vastly different levels of proficiency required to navigate classroom instruction and the ability to understand content. 

To fix some of the financial and educational problems posed by the influx of migrants, the report called on states to require school districts to collect anonymized enrollment data based on immigration status as part of their enrollment counts that would be available to the public so accurate cost analyzes can be done.

"The Biden administration's unwillingness to secure the border has created mounting challenges for schools nationwide," Burke and Ries said. "Classroom management, limited English proficiency, school safety, and finite classroom space are just a few issues school leaders and teachers must now navigate." 

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