DC Public Schools (DCPS) is planning to enroll a total of 40 children among migrants who have been bused into the District from Texas and Arizona, according to DCPS Chancellor Lewis Ferebee.
Migrant students will also be able to take advantage of the Kids Ride Free program, which allows DC students to travel to school and school-related activities for free, Ferebee stated during a press conference on Wednesday.
“We are committed to supporting families in the District and are proud to welcome students to DCPS,” the school system said in a statement. “We have a process in place to support families who have arrived here under these types of circumstances and will be providing direct enrollment and other DCPS supports.”
Since April 2022, Texas Gov. Gregg Abbot and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey have bused more than 5,000 migrants into the District in protest of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
Aid organizations in the city are struggling to provide humanitarian assistance, including food and shelter, for the new arrivals.
On August 23, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced a new bill in the House to provide $50 million in emergency aid for migrants being bused to DC from Texas and Arizona.
“The governors of Texas and Arizona are exploiting and harming desperate and vulnerable people fleeing dangerous situations in their home countries for political gain,” Norton said in a release on the new bill.
In a CBS News interview in July, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser also accused the Republican governors of Texas and Arizona of “tricking” asylum seekers into getting on buses headed to DC, despite the fact that their final destinations are all around the US.
Bowser also requested the DC National Guard’s help two times with the handling of the newly arriving migrants. But the Department of Defense denied the requests.
New Bill to Provide $50 Million in Aid for Migrants Sent to DC