Illegal Border Crossings Today:

In-Person Learning Starts for Migrant Children while Americans Stay at Home

CBP

FAIR Take | Apri 2021

The crisis at the southern border continues spiraling out of control under President Biden’s inaction. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehended over 100,000 individuals in February alone. Through five months of fiscal year 2021 (October 2020 – Present), CBP apprehended nearly 400,000 aliens. Throughout all of FY 2020, CBP apprehended just 458,000 aliens.

Bucking the trends of recent years, over 80 percent of the individuals apprehended are single adults. But a substantial number are unaccompanied alien children (UAC), a category that the Biden administration decided to hold into the United States rather than expelling them back into Mexico under our Title 42 protections.

In a bizarre twist, Fox News reported that teachers from the San Diego Unified School District are teaching migrant children in person, while over 130,000 San Diego children remain at home subjected to virtual learning.

While this is only occurring in a single school district in a notorious sanctuary state, it is indicative of the human costs associated with our country’s lack of control at our own southern border. Millions of children lost out on in-person learning because of COVID-19 lockdowns. For high school children, this may not have had a significant effect on their learning outcomes. But for younger children, the results are likely devastating.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) admitted that virtual learning has known negative effects on children’s mental health as a result of virtual learning. We will not know for some time what the educational effects are, but there is enough evidence to suggest that the effects will be profound. Many American children already fell behind in critical education markers such as mathematics and reading comprehension before the pandemic – imagine the effect that virtual learning had on these trends.

It is plainly unconscionable that any illegal alien children received access to in-person learning before American children. This episode reflects the twisted scenes playing out at the southern border. This decision betrays common sense and should rightly infuriate San Diego parents who want to see their own children back in school.

Unfortunately, until the Biden administration decides to address this crisis by reinstating Title 42 for all illegal aliens – including UACs – this bizarre scene will likely continue playing out in counties and school districts near the border. The Biden administration is reaping the sick rewards of its decision to end the Migrant Protection Protocols, end the asylum agreements with the Northern Triangle countries, and end Title 42 for minors.