Illegal Immigration

In September of 1977, a class action suit Plyler v. Doe, was filed on behalf of illegal immigrant children, who were at the time residing in Smith County, Texas. The parents of these children, who were currently working in the country illegally, argued that their children had just as much right to an education, as the children of legal citizens who paid taxes, and worked here lawfully. After several years of litigation the battle ended in 1982, when the Supreme court ruled that it would be mandatory for every state in the nation to educate any child that showed up for class, regardless of legal status, and that the financial responsibility of their education shall rest solely on the taxpayers of those states. Since that ruling was set forth, this country’s public education system has been sent rocketing into a downward spiral of unrelenting despair. However, the courts ruling included two provisions which were to act as an exit strategy, should this bold new decision happen to bring about any devastating consequences. The provisions are stated as follows: “Congress can reverse the decision if these illegal alien students prove to be a financial hardship to taxpayers, and if the students who are here legally residing in the United States begin to have their own education negatively impacted by the presence of illegal alien students.” It would be safe to say that both of these conditions are present in practically every public school, in every state in the country. We are now well past the point of simply reversing this infamous ruling to solve our current education crisis. There is now a dire need for a complete re-structuring of our public education policy, and curriculum. Not to mention, the growing concern over the willful neglect to provide adequate security for students and teachers, in order to protect them from interior or exterior attacks. A vast majority of the residents in this country both legal, and illegal, have utilized the benefits of America’s public education system at one time or another. Yet, we have also stood idly by, while our children’s futures have fallen victim to the disease of mass immigration, leaving us with no hint of resuscitation in the foreseeable future. Once again, solidifying validity in the belief that importing massive amounts of poverty stricken people with no hope of finding financial stability will only enhance the spread of poverty even further, thus, creating a permanent underclass, and severely widening the socio-economic gap. When you add a language barrier into the equation, and an unwillingness to cooperate from the position most in need, you are virtually begging for an educational meltdown; and the cold truth continues to reveal that the money has dried up, the schools have filled up, and the people are fed up!

The U.S. Census Bureau released its annual report on school enrollment in 2001, and the news release finally admitted that immigration does in fact play a significant role in the overcrowding of our nation’s schools. In previous reports, the Census Bureau as well as the Department of Education continually suggested that overcrowding was the fault of baby boomers, and their children. Of course, many of us have known the truth for a long time, regardless of what biased statistics are force-fed to the public. Apparently the problem of school overcrowding has gotten so dreadful in some states that even the radical Hispanic lobby has spoken out about it. A report released by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), in May 2005, made claims that the state of California does in fact underestimate the level of overcrowding in their schools, with their more than 1.5 million students. Take one look at a public school in any urban or rural party of the country; it really doesn’t take a genius to see who the perpetrators are. Schools across the nation have been forced to deal with a constant stream of illegal immigrants crowding their classrooms, and draining resources which are already scarce as it is. Immigrants are expected to make up ninety-six percent of the increase in school-age population over the next 50 years. Critics also believe that if it was not for the speedy population growth of school-age immigrants and the children of immigrants, school enrollment would not have risen at all during the past decade. Nonetheless, enrollment has increased by fourteen percent, and it continues to escalate every year, with the treacherous pace of illegal immigration keeping steady, and talks of a new amnesty plan stirring the customary migration frenzy.

Schools in the states of California, Texas, and New York, are the ones most affected by the tidal wave of emaciated budgets, and bursting classrooms. For quite a few years now, particularly in the 1990s, public schools in California have been faced with a series of daunting tasks, such as creating tolerable space, and providing essential materials needed to educate their growing non-English speaking student population. In addition, an astounding number of buildings are in serious need of renovation and upgrading. Yet nothing is done to remedy the problems associated with these dilapidated facilities, because any available resources are used to construct, or purchase portable classrooms desperately needed by schools. A report issued by the California State Department of Education, found that they would need to build sixteen new classrooms every day, seven days a week, for five years, in order to keep up with the current population expansion of school-aged illegal immigrants, unlawfully entering the state. The study also found they need to hire about 300,000 new educators, which would double the current amount.

School officials in San Diego County report overcrowding in their schools at all levels, with the greatest problem area being the elementary grades, due to the mandated reduction in class size, even though the average size of an elementary school in California, is 30 percent larger than the national average. Ironically, the initial intention of the mandate was to enhance the quality of education received by children in the lower grades. San Diego, and other border cities, must also deal with a substantial amount of children who do not even live in the U.S., walking across the border every day to be taught in American schools, congesting classrooms even further, and hindering the teacher’s ability to effectively educate their students. This is especially true when they are teaching classes of around forty students, and most of them cannot speak, read, or write in English. While schools struggle to find adequate space for accommodating the growing number of students, they are still faced with the challenge of fulfilling their obligation to meet basic educational requirements, such as; raising academic performance levels, reducing dropout rates, and catering to the extra, often difficult, needs of non-English speaking students. In California, 49 percent of the children attending class in public schools are either foreign born, or the child of an immigrant, and the percentage grows higher every year. With 53.1 million children in our nation’s public schools, enrollment is at an all time high, even greater than the record set in 1970 by the baby-boomers. Many classrooms in the Los Angeles school district, the second largest in the country, already have twice as many children, as they do desks. An article published in the Washington Post suggested that the swelling student population in LA County schools is caused almost entirely by immigration—“both by recent arrivals who have been here for a while and are now having children, and by new immigrants who continue to pour into the city, bringing children with them.” It is no longer unusual for high schools to have 3,000 or more students enrolled, especially in big cities, such as San Diego, and Los Angeles. The average size of a high school classroom in California is thirty-two percent larger than the national average.

No, I'm against it. I'm not making a long post about it because it's obvious that they're not even citizens and therefore are not entitled to an education.