Oklahoma ed chief docks Kamala Harris $475M for mounting costs of illegal immigrants in border fiasco

A letter from Oklahoma’s top education official to Vice President Kamala Harris is demanding her administration cough up $475 million for costs associated with educating illegal immigrants in the state.

The letter is written to Harris directly in her capacity as border czar, responsible for “remediating the crisis of illegal immigration at the southern U.S. border.” In March 2021, Biden tasked Harris with “stemming the migration to our southern border” in a public announcement at the White House.

In the demand letter Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said that in August he instructed the state’s board of education to analyze the costs borne by taxpayers “for education of illegal immigrant children.

“After a thorough analysis to determine the most accurate estimate of this cost, I write to demand the reimbursement to the people of Oklahoma the sum of $474,900,000.00.” 

The letter footnoted a study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) that estimated illegal alien households add 41,766 children to the Oklahoma public school system at an average cost of $4,278 per student. 

But as Walter notes in the letter, those numbers are simply estimates because the Biden-Harris administration hasn’t been forthcoming about the true numbers of illegal immigrants admitted to the U.S. under the administration’s open border policy. 

“This demand amount is, by necessity, an estimate because only your Administration knows the true number of illegal immigrants crossing this Nation’s borders and the actual costs of illegal immigration,” wrote Walters. 

He then asked Harris to have the federal government tally “a strict and accurate accounting of the total costs incurred by Oklahoma schools.” 

Walters charged that the open borders policy has put a strain on the system that teaches kids with limited English proficiency (LEP).  

Walters cited the U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE) own data to show that the numbers of LEP teachers are inadequate to meet the crisis caused by open borders.  

“Approximately 100,000 teachers are serving as LEP instructors, despite lacking the proper certification,” said Walters, citing another DOE report.  

In a statement that accompanied the public release of the letter and was submitted to multiple media outlets, Walters laid the blame for the costs of educating illegal immigrants directly at the feet of Harris. 

“Kamala Harris’ fiasco at the border has led directly to an enormous financial burden on all Americans, especially Oklahomans,” Walters said in the news release, according to the local ABC News affiliate, KOCO.  

He said that Oklahomans are kind, hard-working people, but their patience with being asked to foot the bill for the federal government’s failure has run out.  

“I demand Oklahoma taxpayers be reimbursed for the impact illegal immigration presents on our state. We cannot effectively budget or allocate critical resources when we have no accounting of the cost that illegal immigration places on our schools,” Walters added. 

Later, on Fox News, Walters called Harris the “number one threat to parents and kids.”  

Harris’s presidential opponent, former-President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, offered support for Walters via a Truth Social media post.  

“Great job by Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters on FoxNews last night. Strong, decisive and knows his ‘stuff.’ I LOVE OKLAHOMA!” reads the screen grab of the Trump post shared by Walters. 

FAIR estimates that the total cost to taxpayers so far because of illegal immigration is $151 billion annually after subtracting taxes that have been paid. 

Total federal expenditures on educating illegal immigrants at the primary and secondary levels are estimated by FAIR at $6.6 billion  

The Urban Institute estimates that federal expenditures only account for 11% of all education revenues, with the rest split between state and local governments.