House Calendar No. 25

[Report No. 118–113]

Condemning the use of elementary and secondary school facilities to provide shelter for aliens who are not admitted to the United States.

Condemning the use of elementary and secondary school facilities to provide shelter for aliens who are not admitted to the United States.

Whereas sheltering aliens who are not admitted to the United States in school facilities will divert educational resources from children already suffering from historic learning loss;

Whereas, on May 16 and 17, 2023, about 300 such aliens were sheltered in current or former public school gymnasiums in New York City, and Mayor Eric Adams announced plans to use as many as 20 public school gymnasiums as overflow housing for such aliens;

Whereas turning schools into housing centers for such aliens compromises schools’ duty to educate enrolled children and keep them safe;

Whereas hosting such aliens on school campuses poses a significant safety risk to school children and compromises schools’ ability to secure their own campus;

Whereas using school gymnasiums as housing for such aliens may impede children’s access to safe recreation and physical education, may force children to spend their entire school day with little exercise, and may disrupt the ordinary routines of the school day;

Whereas the Biden administration has created these problems with a failed border security strategy that has encouraged illegal aliens to cross the border, tallying more than 10,000 a day ahead of the May 11, 2023, expiration of the public health emergency relating to COVID–19, declared under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d), and of the concomitant power of the President, under section 362 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 265), to prohibit entries of persons into the United States from certain countries or places; and

Whereas the school children in the United States should not pay for the disastrous immigration policies of either the Biden administration or local leaders: Now, therefore, be it

Whereas sheltering aliens who are not admitted to the United States in school facilities will divert educational resources from children already suffering from historic learning loss;

Whereas, on May 16 and 17, 2023, about 300 such aliens were sheltered in current or former public school gymnasiums in New York City, and Mayor Eric Adams announced plans to use as many as 20 public school gymnasiums as overflow housing for such aliens;

Whereas turning schools into housing centers for such aliens compromises schools’ duty to educate enrolled children and keep them safe;

Whereas hosting such aliens on school campuses poses a significant safety risk to school children and compromises schools’ ability to secure their own campus;

Whereas using school gymnasiums as housing for such aliens may impede children’s access to safe recreation and physical education, may force children to spend their entire school day with little exercise, and may disrupt the ordinary routines of the school day;

Whereas a public elementary or secondary school should be ineligible to receive Federal financial assistance if it is used to shelter, house, or otherwise serve as a sanctuary for, aliens not admitted to the United States;

Whereas the Biden administration has created these problems with a failed border security strategy that has encouraged illegal aliens to cross the border, tallying more than 10,000 a day ahead of the May 11, 2023, expiration of the public health emergency relating to COVID–19, declared under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d), and of the concomitant power of the President, under section 362 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 265), to prohibit entries of persons into the United States from certain countries or places; and

Whereas the school children in the United States should not bear the burden for the disastrous immigration policies of either the Biden administration or local leaders: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved,