Harris asked the state’s top official to reimburse undocumented immigrants in Oklahoma

In a letter to Harris and the White House on Tuesday, Oklahoma Superintendent of Schools Ryan Walters criticized the Biden-Harris administration for its “abject failure to secure borders and enforce immigration laws.” Quoting data from the Washington, D.C.-based Federation for American Immigration Reform, the Republican demanded restitution of nearly $475 million for the “financial impact to Oklahoma taxpayers on the education of the children of illegal immigrants.”

“Under your watch, education costs due to illegal immigration have increased astronomically,” Walters wrote in the letter, focusing on how President Joe Biden reached out to Harris in 2021 to address the issue root causes border crisis. Next to the economy is immigration continues Down vote as one of the most important issues for voters in this election.

“Your misguided oversights and efforts are the direct cause of the current crisis that Oklahoma and other states are currently facing,” added Walters, a former Oklahoma education secretary who has faced criticism from Democrats for being “firebrandconservative. “Oklahoma taxpayers, schools, teachers and parents should not have to bear the burden of your failures. They deserve more.”

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A letter that arrives just a week before Elections 2024 between Harris and former President Donald Trump illustrates how some state-level Republicans are demanding monetary relief over what they believe is a poor decision by the Biden-Harris administration regarding the border crisis. Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) released an August order aimed at obtaining federal reimbursement for health care costs for undocumented immigrants. In April, House Republicans impeached Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, who insisted that DHS was not “accountable for a broken system” for dealing with the influx of illegal immigrants.

Walters said in his Tuesday letter that the staggering $474.9 million figure he cited is “an estimate because only your administration knows the true number of illegal immigrants crossing into this country and the actual costs of illegal immigration.”

Last March, the Federation for American Immigration Reform published: report this shows that the cost of 183,000 illegal immigrants and their children cost Oklahoma taxpayers over $782 million.

“Since you and President Joe Biden took office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has encountered nearly half a million unaccompanied migrant children,” Walters told Harris in the letter, which cited federal data showing that about 3,000 unaccompanied migrant children have been sent to sponsors in Oklahoma in 2021-2023.

“Educating these children imposes significant financial burdens and creates additional obstacles that your administration appears to ignore,” Walters said. “For example, there are greater challenges today in the areas of English proficiency, tutoring English language learners, classroom management, transportation and budgeting for future costs.”

It’s unclear what mechanism the federal government would use to approve the refund Walters is requesting, but one conservative lawyer, Jeffrey Clark, highlighted the appropriation process. Clark, a former top Justice Department official under Trump, said the solution would be for the president to allocate specific funding application to Congress.

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“It just underscores how important it is not only for Trump to win, but for us to take back both the House and the Senate,” Clark told reporters Washington Examiner.

The White House and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.