Local officials agree with Deal

Published 11:22 pm Saturday, July 26, 2014

Regarding news last week that approximately 30 unaccompanied minors from Central America, who had crossed the southern border into the United States, were sent without warning to Dalton last year and enrolled in Dalton Public Schools, Republican politicians representing portions of Murray and Whitfield Counties agree — state and local school officials deserved to know in advance, they say.

“I think the governor very clearly articulated one side of this issue. The federal government has to be upfront with us about things like this,” said Rep. Tom Dickson, R-Cohutta, who represents District 6 in the state House of Representatives. “We should have had communication — the state should have had communication — ahead of time, before any students were moved down here.”

When federal officials revealed that unaccompanied migrants — the Dalton group are part of a total of 1,154 minors overall — had been transferred to Georgia during the previous year, Gov. Nathan Deal admonished the president and federal officials for not providing notice to his office or the school systems that would receive students.

Indeed, no warning was provided to the Dalton district, according to school officials, who have since scrambled to create a new program for the children — due to a lack of formal education and language barriers, the mostly teenaged students are unable to attend classes with the general population.

“My office recently heard from the community about the impact on our public schools and sought an explanation from federal agencies. We received no answers,” said U.S. Rep. Tom Graves, R-14th District. “That kind of secrecy speaks to one of the most basic requests our state and local officials have, which is for transparency about how many illegal immigrants are coming across the border and where they are going.”

The concerns over providing notice are related mostly to the effect providing no warning can have on a school system, which does not often have much wiggle room with staffs and budget.

Dickson, a former superintendent for the Whitfield County school system, said he’d prefer the federal government answer a few questions before sending an influx of students to Georgia school systems.

 “They have to identify: What is the status of these students, and what type of federal aid will be available to enable us to deal with this (because there will obviously be a tremendous expense for the state and local systems),” he said. “The school systems have the most difficult dilemma. They have no options but to educate these children. There are a lot of questions they can’t even ask. So, until the federal government comes up with some means of aid, or the state kicks in some aid, there is a lot of burden on the local school systems.”

Dickson and Graves say only recently did they learn that local schools were being affected by the transfer of youths.

Both say they plan to help address the issue moving forward.

“This week, I was involved in negotiations over legislation to address the border crisis. We discussed closing the loopholes being abused by the White House, increasing detainment while stopping ‘catch and release,’ and helping governors address border security,” Graves said. “These security measures are likely the best humanitarian action we can take because they will deter people from trying to enter the United States illegally and risking serious harm to their lives along the way.”

Said Dickson: “I would anticipate that I will be talking to superintendents from all of the systems that I represent. I plan to reach out to those folks and see what the status is. It has certainly been a topic of conversation and there will be continued discussions.”

“It seems like reaction from people has been about 50-50, between people saying the children should be turned around at the border, and those who say it’s our moral or Christian duty to take care of them,” he continued. “That is the dilemma that those making these decisions will face, in determining how they will deal with it.”