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Ryan Walter’s letter to Harris draws pushback in Oklahoma

Online Niel November 2, 2024

State Schools Superintendent Ryan Walters is doubling down on his demands that Vice President Kamala Harris send nearly $475 million to reimburse Oklahoma taxpayers for paying to educate children whose parents are undocumented immigrants.

In response, some state lawmakers and community advocates criticize his request as an attempt to denigrate Latinos and immigrants and shift the spotlight away from questions about his oversight of Oklahoma schools.

In a statement accompanying his letter, Walters said he requested $474.9 million from the federal government based on an analysis of how illegal immigration affects Oklahoma schools financially. The superintendent issued guidance to public school districts in July on how to report that impact.

However, in his letter to Harris sent Tuesday, Walters cited another source for the $474.9 million figure: Federation for American Immigration Reforma group dedicated to limiting immigration.

The organization, which has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center because of ties to white supremacist groups, said the figure is based on estimates, including that 41,766 children of undocumented immigrants attended Oklahoma schools in 2023. Many of those children are likely U.S. citizens, based on the group’s analysis.

However, Walters described the figure as the cost of educating “illegal immigrant children” and said Harris is responsible for covering the costs because of her oversight of US-Mexico border policy. The White House did not respond to The Oklahoman’s request for comment by press time. It’s unclear how the vice president would award $474.9 million to the state of Oklahoma.

The letter, which was sent to The Washington Examiner and Fox News, came hours after an investigative report by the nonpartisan Legislative Office for Fiscal Transparency criticized how the Oklahoma State Department of Education communicated with school districts and implemented new programs.

Walters’ letter to Harris was amplified in a video posted Thursday on the state Department of Education’s official social media pages. The video features several statistics cited in Walters’ letter, as well as footage of what he says are crowds at the US-Mexico border. “We hereby present the refund in the amount of $474,900,000,” reads a caption on the video.

Superintendent spokesman Dan Isett did not respond to The Oklahoman’s specific questions about the production of the video or Walters’ position on educating the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants. However, he sent a brief emailed statement blaming Harris for the policies that have cost Oklahoma millions of dollars and said taxpayers have a right to be outraged.

“Sucking. Walters is engaged in a public policy debate to protect Oklahomans and the future of our state, as he was elected to do,” Isett wrote.

Ryan Walters’ letter contained “several misrepresentations,” lawyer says

Angelica Villalobos, executive director of the Oklahoma City-based immigrant advocacy group Immigrant Connexión, issued a statement in response to Walters’ letter, saying it contained “several false statements.”

“First of all, it is surprising that as superintendent of education, Walters does not understand how the federal and state government works, particularly with regard to state tax allocations and public education funding,” Villalobos said. “His request to the vice president reveals either a lack of basic government knowledge or a desire to politicize children’s education based on misinformation.”

Native-born people are US citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. Additionally, it is illegal to ask about a public school student’s citizenship status, and undocumented students are guaranteed an education through the 1982 Supreme Court decision Plyler vs. Doe.

By law, students are entitled to a free public education regardless of their immigration status, Rep. Arturo Alonso-Sandoval, D-Oklahoma City, said during a recent discussion of Latino leadership during the election. The state schools superintendent’s job is to make sure these students are well served, he added.

“If we attack and leave students marginalized, it’s not going to make Oklahoma a better state,” Alonso-Sandoval said. “It’s important for us to really focus on more policy-focused conversations because this is just another distraction.”

Walters’ rhetoric assumes that undocumented families are a drain on the state’s education system, Villalobos said, while other data points to the ways in which immigrant families add to the state’s economy.

A recent study from the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policya left-leaning tax policy organization, found that in Oklahoma, about 89,000 undocumented immigrants paid more than $227 million in state and local taxes in 2022. Nationally, undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion dollars in federal, state and local taxes in 2022.

“These funds directly support Oklahoma’s infrastructure, including education, health care and public safety services,” Villalobos said. “If refunds are being discussed, then it is fair to ask where the refund is for the substantial tax contributions made by these community members.”

Ryan Walters’ history of speaking out about his opposition to undocumented immigration

Walters has been outspoken about his opposition to undocumented immigration. During the Oct. 1 vice presidential debate, Walters posted on social media in support of Donald Trump’s Republican vice presidential nominee, JD Vance, and said, “In Oklahoma, we will hold illegal immigrants accountable in our schools.”

In his letter to Harris, Walters said educating undocumented students imposes a “significant financial burden” on the state and presents additional hurdles, such as tutoring English-as-a-second-language students.

Walters said more than 6,000 students in Oklahoma are designated as “Limited English Proficiency” (LEP) learners, adding that the state will need 1,065 more certified LEP teachers over the next five years to help educate those students.

LEP students are defined as students who do not speak English as their primary language and have limited ability to read, speak, write, or understand English.

From fiscal year 2021 to 2023, Walters also said nearly 3,000 unaccompanied immigrant children were sent to sponsors in Oklahoma, citing data from the US Office of Refugee Resettlement. Those years correlate with President Joe Biden’s administration and the last four months of Trump’s presidency.

From fiscal year 2017 to 2021, a time span covering most of Trump’s time in office as well as the end of the Obama administration and the beginning of the Biden presidency, there were 2,160 unaccompanied immigrant children who were sent to sponsors in Oklahoma .

Young people in Oklahoma should have access to a barrier-free learning environment, said Nicole McAfee, executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Freedom Oklahoma, which criticized Walters’ policies as superintendent. McAfee described his letter to Harris as an attempt to gain national attention during a presidential election year.

“While it may be tempting to engage in a debate over the fact that Oklahoma’s undocumented immigrants have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes, or to talk about how many of our industries rely on undocumented labor , that would require a level of bona fide engagement that isn’t present in any of Walters’ media frenzies, and ultimately misses the point that young Oklahomans aren’t political pawns who need to prove their worth to getting educated again and again,” McAfee said.