New York City Schools to Accept Over 2,000 Illegal Immigrants

MOSCOW, November 24 (Sputnik) — The New York City Department of Education (DOE) has told school principals it plans to enroll some 2,350 migrant children from Central America who crossed into the United States unaccompanied this year, with more migrant students to follow soon.

"It is expected that children will continue to arrive in large numbers in the coming years," says the message distributed by DOE, as quoted by the New York Post on Sunday.

US law allows all children, regardless of their immigration status, to enroll in public education. Lack of documents, such as birth certificate or educational records, does not prevent schools from registering newly arriving children.

Currently the number of children of illegal immigrants attending public schools in New York State stands at 350,000 or about 12 percent of all students. About 63,000 children have arrived in the United States without documentation since October 2013, most coming from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Officials did not specify the city spending required to enroll the migrants into public education, however the media puts it at about $49 million annually. This figure has already raised concerns among parent leaders and is likely to soar as most of the arriving children will require additional English-language classes, free lunch, medical assistance and other forms of counselling. Additionally, according to local media, more than a dozen nonprofit organizations in the area received $63 million in federal grants this fiscal year to house the children prior to placement with family members or other sponsors.

Earlier in November US President Barack Obama announced his plan to reform immigration in Unites States. Obama's plan aims to allow up to five million illegal immigrants in the United States to register with the government and avoid deportation. The measure would also enable children younger than 16 who arrived before January 1, 2010, and the parents of US-born children to apply to legally stay in the United States. Critics believe the plan might encourage more teenagers from Central America to flee to the United States. In his speech last week Obama vowed to deport "Felons, not families. Criminals, not children."