An Oklahoma state Congressman is making national headlines with his controversial plan to make a dent in the state’s $900 billion budget hole.
As The Washington Post reports,Republican Rep. Mike Ritze believes the state could save $60 million by rounding up all the students in the state who don’t speak fluent English. The State of Oklahoma would then turn over all 82,000 students to Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, for sorting, to find out which are American citizens.
“Do we really have to educate noncitizens?” Ritze asked a local CBS affiliate.
Several Republican lawmakers in the state have publicly distanced themselves from Ritze after his suggestion. Oklahoma schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister, also a Republican, called the idea “utterly shameful.”