Arizona taxpayers spend up to $1.2 billion annually to educate children of illegal immigrants

Nicole Beyer, Tribune

Children chat in Spanish between classes at Mesa’s Lindbergh Elementary School, and signs are posted in English and Spanish so parents can navigate the campus.

Fewer than 10 percent of Lindbergh students were Hispanic in 1980. Today, the figure has swelled to more than 75 percent.

But Jennifer Kill, a sixth-grade teacher at the school, said she has never asked if any of these students are illegal immigrants or the children of illegal immigrants. Her job is to teach children, not to guard the border.

“As a teacher, you get the students that come to your door,” Kill said. “You don’t concern yourself with where they’re from, what they look like.”

People who do track immigration trends estimate that 125,000 to 145,000 children of illegal immigrants attend public elementary and secondary schools in Arizona.

Illegal Students

Illegal Students reprise