Oklahoma’s top elected education official has sent a “letter of demand” to Vice President Kamala Harris, effectively saying that the illegal immigration crisis during the time she oversaw the border was in the Sooners. It served as a bill for damages caused to state schools.
“As Oklahoma’s statewide elected superintendent and executive officer of the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE), it is my duty to ensure that the resources allocated to our public schools are considered and used to educate is the most effective way possible for the educational benefit of Oklahoma students,” Ryan Walters wrote to Harris.
In August, Walters ordered the department to work with school districts to calculate the economic impact on taxpayers for undocumented immigrant minors.
That analysis estimated it at $474.9 million, which he requested from Harris in a letter.
“This demand is necessarily an estimate because only your administration knows the true number of illegal immigrants crossing this country’s borders and the true cost of illegal immigration,” he said. , asked Harris to make potentially more accurate calculations. Costs borne by Oklahoma schools.
Oklahoma State Schools Superintendent Ryan Walters has filed a lawsuit against Vice President Kamala Harris for $474 million for damages caused to the state’s public schools by illegal immigrants. Nathan J. Fish/The Oklahoman/USA TODAY NETWORK (via Imagn Images)
“Under your watch, the cost of education for illegal immigrants has increased astronomically. Your failed oversight and efforts are the direct cause of the current crisis that Oklahoma and other states are currently facing. Oklahoma taxpayers, schools, teachers, and parents should not be held responsible for your failures. They deserve better,” Walters said.
In an interview Tuesday, Walters said Oklahoma schools have been “devastated” by the border crisis and that paying for the education of these minors is “the biggest unfunded obligation in this country.” He said that.
He said Oklahoma was the first state to calculate the education costs of the border crisis and actually bill the Biden-Harris administration for the funding disparity.
Walters claimed that Harris had “failed our country.” Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order in August directing hospitals to collect cost information in a similar manner for patients who are “not lawfully present in the United States.”
“She has let our country down because she has been a border czar,” Walters said. “Open borders have affected every aspect of society, but it has hit our schools and devastated our families, and now it’s time to hold them accountable.”
Walters said he would call on other states to do the same and calculate the true cost of illegal immigration to show the true impact of the crisis on the country.
Border Patrol agents detain a migrant in Sunland Park, New Mexico, on October 24, 2024. Reuters/Jose Luis Gonzalez
Harris’ office did not respond to a request for comment.
Asked if he expected a response or money to be sent, Walters said the administration has “not been meeting the needs of the American people” for a long time.
“I know they’ve been magically pretending for the last 60 days of the campaign as if they’ve cared about it here. But the reality is, as we’ve seen, the next You see data points after data points and they ignore them,” he said.
