The Miami-Dade school district is experiencing an influx of 1,400 unaccompanied minors from Central America after more than 37,000 illegal immigrant minors throughout the country were released by the Obama administration into the care of their families this year, Breitbart reported. Now, the schools are being forced to expand first-year English language classes and assess new educational needs.
Since the Department of Education stressed that students may enroll in public schools regardless of their immigration status, the district has seen 800 more foreign students than last year, according to National Public Radio.
"These kids basically all been here within a couple of months. I think the ones that have been here the longest have been here three months. We had one just enter a week ago," Miami Jackson High School Principal Carlos Rios told NPR, adding that 170 of the minors from Central America are now in his school.
"Obviously, the first week of school we saw about 100 students come in, and it hasn't stopped. You see the office out there, there's still parents coming in, there's still students coming in."
Since the beginning of the year, roughly 40,000 undocumented children have entered the United States by crossing the southern U.S. border illegally, the Obama administration said.
Children entering the country are usually detained by immigration officials before being sent to other areas, such as Los Angeles, Houston, Washington, D.C., and South Florida, where they are united with friends or family members, according to NPR.
However, most students are not proficient in English, while educational backgrounds vary widely.
"Mostly Level 1's, no English. Some good background education where the language would be just the issue. And some with very little education where it's a bigger battle," a Miami Jackson English instructor told NPR.
Meanwhile, another wave of immigrants is expected in the coming months, school officials said.
An analysis released Tuesday from the Federation for American Immigration Reform revealed that the cost of educating this most recent influx of unaccompanied illegal immigrant migrants could top $761 million this school year.
"These kids will require special Limited English Proficient (LEP) classes conducted in Spanish, or in other languages indigenous to Central American, as well as other taxpayer funded services, such as free and reduced school meals. Once again the costs of federal government's failed immigration policies are borne at the local level, and the nation's public school system is where the costs are most visible," FAIR explained.
The Miami-Dade school district has been educating non-English speakers for over 50 years, starting in the 1960s following an influx of Cubans, News Max reported.
