Matthew Tragesser
My mother immigrated to Pittsburgh from Guatemala in the early 1980s under President Reagan, and I spent my first 20 years of life in South Hills. Unfortunately, today my hometown is nearly unrecognizable to me.
The reason why is simple: The system that existed when my mom came to the United States has been completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of migrants crossing our southern border today.
In the last two years, the migrant population in Pittsburgh has soared by 2,000%, and now it’s reaching crisis levels.
According to a Sept. 15 segment aired by CBS Pittsburgh, Charleroi—a borough nested along the Monongahela River—has been especially impacted by this influx. Schools are overstrained. Local stores are seeing less business because of crime concerns. And residents are watching their culture vanish before their eyes.
This isn’t an accident. Since 2021, the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration policies have allowed the entry of millions of inadmissible aliens at a completely unsustainable rate.
I can attest that the situation unfolding in Western Pennsylvania is unprecedented and unrecognizable. Pennsylvanians deserve an ordered and sustainable immigration system that does not impact their quality of life.
Overburdened public systems resulting from mass immigration are one of the main concerns identified by Charleroi residents and cost Pennsylvanians $1.2 billion annually to cover medical, welfare and education expenses.
Schools in Charleroi are especially suffering with the number of migrants needing to learn English. The district has already spent $400,000 on English Language Learner (ELL) teachers and interpreters, but it is nowhere near enough to meet the demand.
In Cornell School District—near Coraopolis—ELL class sizes have doubled from just last year. Further south in Ringgold, the school board just approved $142,000 or roughly $7,000 per student for English as a Second Language (ESL) services between 2024-2045.
Not only is this a financial burden on taxpayers, » Read More
https://www.heritage.org/border-security/commentary/western-pennsylvania-paying-the-high-price-biden-harris-border-crisis