State’s schools got roped into U.S. border crisis

As if the current border crisis weren’t concerning enough as a national problem, it has officially become a Louisiana problem, too.

The Obama Administration is relocating illegal immigrant children throughout the country – including to Louisiana. In fact, Louisiana is astonishingly in the top 10 of states forced to receive these children. That means that the children will be educated in our public schools, and that education comes at a cost. In Jefferson Parish alone, the price tag comes to $4.8 million.

It also puts an additional, unfair burden on teachers who will be expected to accommodate non-English speaking students. That’s not fair to the teachers and not fair to the students in the classroom.

Frankly, we’ve had lax enforcement of our immigration laws for decades, and it has only encouraged more immigrants to come here illegally. That’s exactly why we’re seeing the influx of unaccompanied immigrant children arriving at our southern border. This problem could be completely eliminated if the Obama Administration would actually start securing our borders and enforcing immigration laws.

President Obama’s policies created this illegal immigration mess in Louisiana, and the school system should not be left to clean it up. This could potentially cause a huge financial burden for the state, and for no reason other than the Obama Administration is completely disinterested in enforcing immigration laws and inept at securing our border.

We need a policy that actually deters illegal immigration. I have legislation that would implement mandatory detention and expedited removal of any immigrants found to be coming into our country illegally.

To some, that may sound harsh, but it’s what we need to do. Because when it comes down to it, we need to send a message to others thinking about coming here illegally. We need to tell the world that illegal immigration is unacceptable, and we can do that by deporting people who come here illegally by the planeload – not educating their kids free of charge.

Louisiana families want the best education for our kids. And as long as illegal immigrant children are being placed into our classrooms, there will be an extra burden on our school systems and an extra cost on our taxpayers. The quality of education our kids receive should absolutely not be compromised in the name of President Obama or anyone’s political agenda.