By Corinne Murdock |
There were over 800 illegal immigrant children released to sponsors in Arizona in the last fiscal year, which would result in an estimated cost of over $10 million to educate them.
This estimate comes from Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) data, in which average per-pupil spending in 2022 derived from state, local, and federal funding, adjusted for inflation, was over $11,700. The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) reported that there were 861 unaccompanied children released to sponsors in the 2023 fiscal year, which runs from October 2022 to September 2023. Altogether, that amounts to over $10 million.
Per the latest immigration data, another 368 unaccompanied children were released to sponsors from last October to December. JLBC estimated per-pupil spending last year, adjusted for inflation, to sit at about $12,000, and spending in 2024 to sit at about $11,700.
Since the 2021 fiscal year, there have been over 2,600 illegal immigrant children released to sponsors. That’s about 1,000 more in four years than the entire total for the six years spanning the 2015 fiscal year to the 2020 fiscal year (just over 1,700).
Under 2022 costs, that amounts to over $28.6 million. The estimated 2023 costs, adjusted for inflation, amounts to over $31.2 million, with a return to about $28.6 million under 2024 estimated costs.
Nationwide, there were about 113,500 illegal immigrant children released to sponsors in the last fiscal year. That’s a decline from the 2022 fiscal year, about 127,500, but remains a significant increase from all other years prior.
In the first four months of this fiscal year, there have been about 46,300 unaccompanied minors encountered along the southwest border. Border encounter data reveals that there have been over 468,180 unaccompanied minors since President Joe Biden took office.
Encounter totals for accompanied minors register far lower. There have been just over 500 encounters of accompanied minors in the first four months of this fiscal year, and over 7,800 in total since Biden took office.
These latest estimates are just a portion of total migrant children in the education system, and consist of only those reported. In 2022, there were over 90,000 students characterized as English Language Learners (ELLs) in Arizona. Using 2022 education costs, that amounts to over $1 billion.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.