‘Students Should Feel Safe’: Ted Cruz Introduces Bill to Cut Funding for Schools that House Illegal Immigrants

While calling on his colleagues to prioritize students’ safety, U.S. senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) introduced a Republican-sponsored bill Thursday that would slash federal funding for K-12 schools, colleges, and universities across the country if they provide housing to illegal immigrants.

The Schools Not Shelters Act addresses sanctuary cities using educational institutions to shelter incoming migrants in the U.S. as the border crisis worsens. A preliminary version of the bill passed the House in July.

The bill, however, allows schools to house people during emergencies, like in the case of a hurricane or flood.

In a statement, Cruz warned the southern border “invasion … is straining local services, overwhelming hospitals, and overcrowding schools.”

“Instead of addressing the learning loss caused by Democrat COVID lockdowns, sanctuary cities are focused on diverting resources from students to house illegal aliens,” he said. “Students are losing access to gyms, dorms, and other school facilities in order to accommodate illegal aliens. Housing unvetted, potentially dangerous illegal aliens in schools is a recipe for disaster.”

The legislation’s co-sponsors include senators Josh Hawley (R., Mo.), Ted Budd (R., N.C.), Mike Braun (R., Ind.), and Tom Cotton (R., Ark.).

“Students should feel safe and be prioritized while at school, and my bill reverses these terrible Democrat policies that have put illegal aliens ahead of students,” Cruz added, calling on Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) to listen to his state’s constituents and “bring this bill to the Floor for a vote.”

The legislation comes as New York, particularly New York City, is struggling with an ongoing influx of migrants that has seen more than 116,000 illegal immigrants enter the city since the spring of 2022.

Earlier this week, New York governor Kathy Hochul deployed 150 more of the state’s National Guard to manage the city and surrounding area’s migrant crisis, now totaling roughly 2,200 guardsmen presently addressing the situation. And this month, New York City mayor Eric Adams warned that the unchecked migration “will destroy New York City” if record numbers continue pouring into the city.

Besides Cruz, other government officials are preventing schools from being used to house illegal immigrants. On Tuesday, a Staten Island Island judge ordered New York City to stop using a former Catholic school as a migrant shelter. In the injunction, the judge criticized New York’s 1981 “Right to Shelter” mandate that required the city to provide shelter to anyone who may need it.

“The consent decree was entered into to address a specific problem existing at the time — to provide housing for unfortunate New Yorkers who needed shelter,” Judge Wayne Ozzi wrote. “No one can argue that there was at that time a situation of the magnitude existing today — a virtual flood of migrant asylum seekers whose numbers would fill two Yankee Stadiums and equal one-fifth of the population of Staten Island.”