Lawmaker's idea to target non-English-speaking students, 'turn them over to ICE' criticized

Broken Arrow lawmaker's idea to target non-English-speaking students, 'turn them over to ICE' criticized

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A Republican member in the Oklahoma House is suggesting that tens of thousands of non-English speaking students in public schools be turned over to U.S. immigration officials as cost-saving measure in the cash-strapped state.

State Rep. Mike Ritze of Broken Arrow told News9 in an interview Wednesday that the newly created Republican Platform Caucus believes the state could save $60 million if it would identify what the caucus believes is 82,000 non-English-speaking students “and then turn them over to ICE” (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to determine if they are citizens.

It’s unclear from the segment if he was referring to turning over the students’ names or rounding up the children.

The state Department of Education said there are actually about 50,000 English learners in pre-K through 12th grade in Oklahoma public schools, but many of those students could be U.S. citizens.

Read more: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/state/broken-arrow-lawmaker-s-idea-to-target-non-english-speaking/article_0ebe35f6-634c-534f-b4a2-6febc6796eea.html