Close to 20,000 migrant children will have been absorbed by New York City’s public schools when the school year starts on Sept. 7. None will be required to show proof of vaccinations when they enroll, as is required for the children of New Yorkers.
On Thursday, New York City officials held a press conference regarding the state of the more than 100,000 border crossers and illegal aliens that have arrived in the sanctuary city since the spring of last year.
According to officials, nearly 19,000 migrant children had enrolled in New York City schools across all five boroughs by the end of last school year, while an additional 500 migrant children are expected to be enrolled at the start of this school year.
“How can you look parents of non-migrants in the face — many, many millions of them, maybe two million families and parents — how do you tell them everything’s going to be okay this year?” one reporter asked officials at the conference, to which an official responded:
Everything has been okay. We started welcoming these students in from last year. And it’s very important to note as well, prior to this administration, we lost 120,000 families left the New York City public schools. So, we’ve absorbed last year, 19,000 students. We have room for the students and our principals, our superintendents, our school communities have worked extremely well in receiving these young people. I’ve been to schools, I have visited schools where I’ve seen other students, third and fourth graders who are interpreting for their classmates. [Emphasis added]
Another official said none of the roughly 20,000 migrant children attending New York City schools in the coming days will be required to show proof that they have been vaccinated against communicable diseases like polio, measles, mumps, and rubella.
The children of New Yorkers, though, are required to show proof of vaccinations.
A student at Carlin Springs Elementary School receives an H1N1 flu vaccination January 7, 2010 in Arlington, Virginia. MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
“… students in temporary housing, they do not need to show proof of vaccination in order to enter school,” the official said. “However, we are working with our partners … to get the students vaccinated.”
The official noted that the goal is to have migrant children fully up-to-date on their vaccines within a 30-day time frame of when they enroll in school.
“Students in temporary housing, it’s always been in place they don’t have to show proof of vaccination upon entering, but we work within the timeframe of 30 days for them to be able to get vaccinated,” the official said.
In April, New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan warned New Yorkers that they could be exposed to viruses and diseases that have been eradicated from the United States due to illegal immigration.
At the time, Vasan noted that more than 25,000 border crossers and illegal aliens who had arrived in New York City were not vaccinated against polio. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “between 2 and 10 out of 100 people who have paralysis from poliovirus infection die, because the virus affects the muscles that help them breathe.”
“Vaccination rates for certain diseases are low in some of the most common countries of origin, with rates hovering around 50 percent for polio as an example,” Vasan wrote in an agency letter.
There were outbreaks of chickenpox in the city’s shelter system as a result of illegal immigration,” Vasan wrote:
An outbreak of varicella is occurring among families who recently arrived and are residing in shelters and other facilities in NYC. Most cases have been among unvaccinated children, but cases have also occurred among young adults. [Emphasis added]
Many people who recently arrived in NYC have lived in or traveled through countries with high rates of [tuberculosis]. [Emphasis added]
The alarming number of border crossers and illegal aliens arriving in New York City without the polio vaccine came as the New York Post reported that migrant children were attending city public schools without having to meet vaccination requirements.
Border Patrol agents discover chickenpox-infected migrant toddler used in fake family claim. (Photo: U.S. Border Patrol)
In one example, the lack of vaccinations among migrant children spurred a chickenpox outbreak at the Simon Baruch Middle School located in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of downtown Manhattan.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
