Oklahoma schools superintendent: Plan to ask parents about immigration status 'common sense'

The leader of Oklahoma's board of education is defending the group's recent approval of a proposal to require parents to report their immigration or citizenship status when enrolling their children in school.

"We know at a minimum that we have over 4,000 illegal immigrants in our schools, which has cost the state, $474 million under [former Democrat President] Joe Biden," state Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said last week on the Just The News, No Noise TV program. 

The six-member board, of which Walters, a Republican, is a member, unanimously approved the proposal in late January, but it still needs approval from the legislature and Gov. Kevin Stitt.

The governor is also a Republican and a staunch opponent of illegal immigration but said Wednesday he will stop the plan that's being pushed by Walters. 

He also said policymakers should focus on targeting people in the country illegally who commit other crimes, according to the Associated Press. And a day earlier, Stitt replaced three of the six board members. 

Walters on the TV show also suggested the state has had some idea of the number of students whose parents are illegal migrants – and the additional taxpayer cost of educating their children – because officials have already "gotten it from voluntary information given over by parents." 

Still, he said, "We need to understand exactly how big is the issue of illegal immigration our school – what's the exact number?"

Walters said the second-biggest concern – or reason for needing more and better information – is that officials need to know from which countries students are coming because "we're having to allocate resources in real time. Teachers. Classrooms are bulging. ... You have resources that are being diverted to cover the needs of these students that, again, are coming from all over the world. Number two, we've got to be able to work with law enforcement."

He said schools working with law enforcement is a "common sense" decision that will ultimately protect the children.

"You've got MS 13 that has come across the border and into our schools," Walters said. "You have child sex trafficking. We've got tens-of-thousands of kids who have been sex trafficked across the border.

"If law enforcement says, 'Listen, we need information around this family. Do you have it?' We've got to be able to provide that to them so that again, kids can be deported with their families. If their families are being deported, kids can be protected in case they're in danger of a gang and if they've been sex trafficked, we have to make sure that we identify these individuals and get them to safety."

Walters before the board vote criticized the media of “lies” and “gaslighting” on the issue and said the goal of the rule was to gather data on its student body, according to CNN. 

He has also said recently Oklahoma plans to comply with the Trump administration’s efforts to allow ICE agents into schools.

Though Walters says the proposal is "simply" to account for how many students of illegal immigrants are Oklahoma schools, education and immigration advocates think it will make immigrant families feel afraid and unwelcome at public schools that are legally required to provide every child education, regardless of citizenship status.

“All children have a constitutional right to equal access to education regardless of their citizenship or immigration status,” said the National Immigration Law Center.