Thread: Flood of illegal immigrants to pour into NYC schools

Flood of illegal immigrants to pour into NYC schools

By Susan Edelman and Isabel Vincent


November 23, 2014 | 4:10am
Modal Trigger
Youths hitch a ride atop a freight train in Oaxaca, Mexico, on their way to the US border, where they would join a flood of unaccompanied minors seeking to enter the country. Photo: Reuters

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New York has sent a warning to its schools: Expect more illegal immigrants.


The city Department of Education has told principals it plans this year to enroll 2,350 migrant children from Central America who crossed into the United States unaccompanied — with many more to come.

“It is expected that children will continue to arrive in large numbers in the coming years,” says a DOE memo to principals obtained by The Post.
The notice comes as the city rolls out a $50 million red carpet for 1,662 minors who crossed the border this summer to escape *violence and gangs in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

In the “surge,” 5,000 of the 63,000 migrant kids caught trying to cross US borders — or who turned themselves in for refuge — have been released to relatives or other “sponsors” in New York state. Most live with other illegal immigrants.

In the city, Queens has received the highest number of unaccompanied children, 732, followed by Brooklyn (434), The Bronx (433), Manhattan (63) and Staten Island (less than 50), federal reports show.

The recent arrivals join an estimated 350,000 children of illegal immigrants already in New York state — about 12 percent of the public-school population.

The DOE refused to discuss the exact numbers of recently enrolled children, claiming it would violate student privacy. Officials ignored questions about the cost.

The city’s per-pupil spending in the 2012-2013 academic year averaged $20,749, which would bring the total for the migrant kids to $48.7 million.

But the costs could soar, because the youths — many of them victims of poverty and abuse — will need state-mandated English-language instruction, free or reduced-price lunch, and a range of other services, including psychological counseling, medical and dental.

‘The DOE believes that every child has a right to a great education, and we are committed to providing… a path to long-term achievement.’
- Devora Kaye, DOE spokesperson

“The DOE believes that every child has a right to a great education, and we are committed to providing children who have escaped violence with the academic foundation and access to services that they need to establish a path to long-term achievement,” said DOE spokeswoman Devora Kaye. But parent leaders worry the *influx will strain school budgets.

“Unless the mayor, governor or president announces that funds will be made available immediately, our already-struggling schools will have to provide more,” said Sam Pirozzolo, vice president of the New York City Parents Union.

“NYC public schools are already failing to meet the needs of the students they have — 70 percent cannot read, write and do math at grade level. How can they handle thousands of new students competing for the same services without things getting worse?”

Under US law, all children have a right to enroll in school and *receive government services, *regardless of immigration status.
On Long Island and upstate, several school districts have been accused of blocking enrollment of migrant youths by demanding a birth certificate, proof of residency and education records from their home countries.

DOE has instructed staff to register them without delay and follow up later on documentation.

“In the city, they don’t tend to give you a problem,” said Manhattan-based immigration lawyer John Cavallo.

DOE representatives even sit at a desk in Immigration Court downtown, where the migrant kids appear for hearings, to help them enroll in school and sign up for free health care.

In court, Melvin Bonilla, 17, said he traveled alone from Honduras on a “scary” journey to the United States four months ago. He lives with an uncle in Brooklyn but has skipped school.

‘How can [NYC public schools] handle thousands of new students competing for the same services without things getting worse?’
- Sam Pirozzolo, NYC Parents Union vice president

Bonilla told Immigration Judge Virna Wright he finished sixth grade in Honduras and had not enrolled in a school here because his uncle wanted him to learn English first and was paying for lessons. Wright *instructed him to register.

Children can stay in the country if they convince authorities that they faced harm or persecution in their native land. Judges may also grant “special immigrant juvenile” status to a child found abused, neglected or abandoned.

The migrant kids are not directly affected by President Obama’s executive orders last week to let 5 million illegal immigrants stay in the country. One order exempts from deportation the parents of permanent residents or anyone born in the United States. Another expands relief to “Dreamers” brought here illegally before age 16 — and before Jan. 1, 2010.

The orders place “recent arrivals” in the same priority for *deportation as suspected terrorists and felons. The feds are processing the recent flood of *migrant kids more quickly, Cavallo said.

“While others wait years for their hearings, the recent arrivals get scheduled within weeks or a few months at most,” he said. “The message is: You come now, you’re going to get arrested and deported right away.”

But Obama vowed to deport “criminals, not children,” and critics contend his actions will encourage more kids to flee to the United States to get amnesty.

http://nypost.com/2014/11/23/city-sc...rant-children/

The DOE refused to discuss the exact numbers of recently enrolled children, claiming it would violate student privacy.

How does a number violate student privacy? In my book, you must disclose an individuals personal information to do that.

Illegal home conversions have Dyker, Ridge schools bursting at seams

November 17, 2014 / Brooklyn news / Dyker Heights

(Note: Though the term Illegal is not used to describe these immigrants it should have been.)


This heat map shows the frequency of 311 complaints regarding illegal home conversions, and the degree of overcrowding in local elementary schools.


By Max Jaeger
The Brooklyn Paper

The rash of illegal home conversions in Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, and Bensonhurst is causing a school-overcrowding crisis, and the city isn’t taking the issue seriously, locals say.

The practice of subdividing two-family homes into multi-family apartments is bringing more kids to District 20 schools than classrooms can handle, according to local leaders. A section of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights with the most 311 complaints of illegal home conversions in the area also has the most overcrowded elementary schools, according to our analysis of school enrollment and 311 complaints within community boards 10 and 11.

The School for Future Leaders, the Ralph A. Fabrizio School, PS 127, and PS 176 enrolled at least 1.5 times their stated capacity in 2014, Department of Education data show. The four elementary schools sit within the same square mile of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights where 311 has received the heaviest concentration of illegal conversion complaints since 2010.

At 171-percent enrollment, Dyker Heights’ PS 176 is the most overcrowded of all of District 20’s 37 schools, and the situation is having a clear, negative impact on kids, according to the administrator of the neighborhood’s community board.

“At PS 176, there are kids in hallways,” said Community Board 10 district manager Josephine Beckmann.

The school zones in District 20 where the Department of Buildings has issued the most illegal conversion tickets also tend to have more overcrowded schools, data show. The city slapped eight building owners within the area zoned for PS 176 with violations since 2010, more than areas zoned for other schools, according to city data. Enforcement of the laws prohibiting chopping up residences into many apartments is notoriously lax, as the city sent inspectors to investigate fewer than half of the complaints in the area since 2012, and inspector protocol is to close a complaint if no one at the address lets them in after two visits.

The main driver of school overcrowding and the illegal home conversions is population growth due to immigration, according to Community Board 10’s education committee chair.

“The number one issue is immigration,” said Bob Hudock. “Bensonhurst is the number two neighborhood in the city for foreign-born immigrants.”

A 2013 report from the Department of City Planning found that Bensonhurst has the second-highest number of foreign-born residents in the city.

A lack of low-priced housing drives families into illegally converted homes, and Hudock believes that causes the city to underestimate just how big the population boom is, since tenants in the cramped apartments typically try to avoid official notice, skewing census data. Also, landlords who illegally subdivide houses routinely lie to the city about the numbers of units and occupants, said Hudock, making city records an inaccurate measure of local population in areas with high rates of illegal conversions.


This map shows the number and type of violations issued for illegal home conversions in District 20’s school zones, and indicates how overcrowded the local elementary schools are.

The Department of Education uses data from the departments of health, housing preservation, city planning, and buildings to project future seat needs, according to a spokesman, who said the projections “have been accurate to around 1 to 2 percent” during the last decade.

But in a seeming vindication of Hudock’s criticism, the Department of Education’s plan to add seats to District 20 falls more than 30 percent short of the district’s current stated needs.

The city plans to create 4,044 new elementary school seats in the district as soon as it finds a suitable site to build, according to Beckmann, but even that many new seats wouldn’t bring District 20’s schools down to 100 percent of official capacity.

There are 25,594 students currently enrolled in the district’s 37 elementary schools and only 19,760 seats, so even after those planned seats are added, there will still be a 1,790-desk shortfall.

Local pols are calling on city agencies need to work together to shed light on the growing problem of illegal conversions, and one Brooklyn lawmaker suggested the Department of Education start reporting obvious red flags to the buildings department as a first step.

“When they’ve got 12 kids listed at one address, they should be telling the Department of Buildings,” said Assemblyman Peter Abbate (D–Sunset Park). “I don’t think the city is taking this seriously right now.”

Reach reporter Max Jaeger at mjaeg*er@cn*gloca*l.com or by calling (71 260–8303. Follow him on Twitter @JustTheMax.

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories...-bk_37_47.html