(NewsNation) — Resources already stretched thin are now more strained as public schools throughout the United States take in thousands of migrant students.
Cities including New York, Chicago, Washington and Denver all are grappling with an influx of students from countries outside the U.S., as border officials encounter growing numbers of family units at the Southwest border.
“There are lack of adequate interpreters, lack of translation services, lack of English language teachers,” said Barbara Duffield, executive director of SchoolHouse Connection.
About 20,000 migrant children entered New York City’s public school system in the fall, according to the Associated Press, and about 400 migrant students are enrolled in D.C.’s public schools, Axios reported. In Colorado, nearly 1,500 new Denver Public School (DPS) students came from another country between July and September 2023.
The added enrollment comes as border encounters with family units entering the United States are up 6% compared to last year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Language barriers, teacher and bus shortages, and further strains on already limited resources are among some of the obstacles staff and students are learning to navigate.
“There’s not (always) a connection between the community organizations who have additional resources for basic needs — things like transportation,” Duffield said. “Lacking transportation, lacking some school supplies, lacking clothing, hygiene items, all of those other pieces, too, in addition to the actual specific educational challenges are things that are surfacing to us from school districts who are working with these students.”
In September, a Republican councilwoman for northeast Queens told NewsNation the public school system was ill-equipped to take in more migrant students.
“It’s not just Spanish, the one language — we’re talking about 11 different languages right now, which our teachers are not prepared for,” the councilwoman, Vickie Paladino, told NewsNation’s Leland Vittert.
Housing has been a challenge too.
Most of the 14,000 immigrants who have arrived in Chicago during the last year have come through Texas, largely under the direction of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
Chicago Public Schools has since enrolled about 1,200 newly arrived students as of late August, contributing to the district’s first spike in enrollment in more than a decade, K-12 Dive reported.
The city’s migrants, however, has crowded shelters, police station lobbies and a makeshift shelter at O’Hare airport as they await open housing.
Nationally, 10% of students pre-K-12 are English learners, and 18% of students who experience homelessness are English learners, Duffield said.
The instability of homelessness and the immigration process can be majorly disruptive to a child’s education, she added.
“We have to really understand the level of trauma that these children experienced and encountered, acknowledge that, and help them process that through counseling and mental health supports that are culturally appropriate and then attend to their care,” she said.
Duffield encouraged schools and families to connect with local resources and seek government funding and assistance when and where appropriate.
“Minimally, school needs to be stable and safe,” she said. “And what that means is that regardless, they need to be enrolled immediately, and then have the ability to stay in that same school, even as their living situation changes.”