News/Commentary

Chicago taxpayers fork out another $15M for bilingual programs as schools enroll 2K migrant students

September 2, 2023 | | Print Article

Students in Chicago returned to school last month, putting local taxpayers on the hook for another $15 million to fund bilingual instruction programs for the estimated 2,000 migrant kids who were enrolled in the public school system.

The migrant children lack help with overcoming the language barrier, parents and volunteers told the Chicago Tribune.

Some migrant parents were turned away from school on August 21 because “they didn’t have people who spoke Spanish,” according to parent Eliany Piña, whose family landed in Chicago from Venezuela just 10 days earlier.

Britt Hodgdon volunteers at the 2nd and 3rd District police stations in Chicago, where many migrant families are staying.

“Kids are showing up with rotting teeth and active fevers and malnutrition and they’re not receiving care here,” Hodgdon said. “And then on top of that we’re now refusing them education and all of the things that come with that.”

But, as American Wire News reported, Chicago residents are fed up with paying for migrants in their sanctuary city at a time when their community is drowning in homelessness and crime.

In June, the Windy City’s city council voted 34-13 to approve a $51 million migrant aid package.

“It’s just a mess here,” Chicago resident Andre Smith told “Fox & Friends Weekend” at the time.

“We have in Chicago $160 million that was spent for the migrants with no records, no plan. And now we’re fixing to spend $51 million that was passed at city council with no record, no plan for 500 migrants for 30 days,” he fumed. “That’s unheard of.”

Chicago’s Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson called the funding “critical.”

“Chicago is facing a humanitarian crisis as individuals and families continue to be sent here and other Democratic-led cities across the country without regard for their well-being,” he said. “My administration will do everything in our power to support these new arrivals as they work to rebuild their lives in the U.S. while still upholding our commitments to the residents of Chicago. This appropriation is critical to support our efforts to provide housing and services in the immediate future, and I will continue to advocate for additional state and federal funding for as long as needed.”

According to Breitbart, “more than 13,000 border crossers and illegal aliens have arrived in the sanctuary city since the summer of last year.”

At a crowded community meeting that focused on a nearby migrant shelter located in the old converted Wadsworth elementary school in July, one weary resident warned officials that “street justice” will prevail if nothing is done.

The shelter had become a magnet for loitering, late-night parties, littering, and prostitution.

“Let me say this,” the resident said, “they got one more time to deal with it, because otherwise, the next time they deal with it, they’re going to deal with it from the streets.”

“We’re going to take over,” the man vowed. “Nobody’s going to be able to stop us from what we’re going to do to them.”

In a Monday statement, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) said that Students in Temporary Living Situations (STLS) will be prioritized this school year, according to the Chicago Tribune.

STLS students will be able to “immediately enroll in school, even if he or she lacks health, immunization, or school records, proof of guardianship, proof of residency, or any other documentation normally required for school enrollment.”

Much of the $15 million will go to teachers who are able to teach English to the new Spanish-speaking students, Breitbart reports.

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Melissa Fine
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