Ohio man claims family was told to hire a translator for four-year-old to attend preschool because the child is the only student who doesn’t speak Spanish
An Ohio man shared his shock when he learned his grandson needed an interpreter so he could attend preschool in the state.
In a minute-long video, the man claims that his daughter recently had a meeting at her son’s preschool and that he was the only one who spoke English.
Officials at the New Philadelphia school in Tuscarawas County, who have not been named, told the boy’s mother she would have to pay for an interpreter for the child if he wanted to learn English.
“My daughter enrolled my four-year-old grandson in preschool last week, where they met briefly,” he began.
An Ohio man has taken to TikTok to express his shock after his grandson was told he would need an interpreter to attend preschool in the state
“I live in a small town in Ohio. She takes him to the meet and greet, where they tell her she has to hire a translator with her own money to send him to preschool because he’s the only kid who doesn’t speak Spanish. Really?”
The man did not seem to believe the proposal that she should pay for a translator herself.
“It’s clear she didn’t do it and she took him out of preschool,” he explained.
“This migrant issue is not a red state, blue state thing because I’m in a red state and we’re being overrun by them. It’s our entire government. It’s all of them,” the man continued.
“Can you believe it? He can’t go to kindergarten because he doesn’t speak Spanish. Unbelievable.”
While the exact preschool provision has not been determined, it is well documented how Ohio is seeking to attract more immigrants to the area to improve the state’s economic growth.
Migrants walk along the highway through Suchiate, in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, as they travel north toward the US border.
The man explained how his daughter was asked to pay a translator so his grandson could learn English
The state capital, Columbus, already has 900,000 residents and was recently named the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the country. City leaders want to continue that growth. They say attracting immigrants is the solution.
Donald Trump won the predominantly Republican state by 8 percentage points in 2020, but despite the Republican bias, the state capital has become more welcoming to migrants.
However, Ohioans are very concerned about how the city can meet the needs of a sudden influx of refugees. They worry about a possible increase in crime and the language barrier, since only 3 percent of the state’s residents speak Spanish.
A Republican, Bernie Moreno, went on X last month and claimed that migrants are “destroying” Ohio communities because of the current administration’s policies.
Columbus, Ohio wants to attract more migrants and refugees to the area to improve the city’s economic output.
Columbus’ Democratic Mayor Andrew J. Ginther has made the town a sanctuary in everything but name
Don DePerro, CEO of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, says the city must continue to welcome refugees
Moreno, himself an immigrant, is a Cleveland businessman running to win the seat held since 2007 by Democrat Sherrod Brown in one of the most closely watched states in the country.
Moreno did not go into details about which cities have been “devastated,” but his comments appear to fuel fears that migrants will arrive after the influx at the southern border earlier this year.
Some argue that undocumented immigrants commit more crimes than people born in the United States, although 2021 research suggested that such claims were false.
Moreno has been vocal in his rhetoric on immigration, repeatedly calling events at the southern border an “invasion.”
Republican Bernie Moreno went to X last month and claimed that migrants have “destroyed” Ohio communities because of the current administration’s policies
Moreno, himself an immigrant, is a Cleveland businessman running to win the seat held by Democrat Sherrod Brown since 2007 in one of the nation’s most closely watched elections.
Although Columbus does not call itself a sanctuary city, the city does have such a policy.
This means that Columbus has a particularly welcoming attitude towards migrants who come to the city.
In 2015, a police directive was passed that prohibited local police from stopping or arresting illegal aliens for ICE without a warrant or observation of a crime.
The directive also bars the use of municipal funds or personnel “for the sole purpose of locating or apprehending a person based on … suspected immigration status, except in response to a court order.”
“We are in an economic and cultural boom. With that comes challenges. More people need more housing, more transportation, more child care, more health care, more teachers. Businesses tell us every day that they need more people in the workforce,” wrote Democratic Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther and Don DePerro, CEO of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, in an op-ed for Today in the US.
“As two proud leaders… we must continue to welcome refugees. Our American-born workforce is aging and Ohioans are having fewer children. Welcoming refugees is not only the right thing to do, it makes good economic sense.”
Jorge Herrera, from Nicaragua, was working on a factory floor in Columbus, Ohio earlier this year
Columbus is becoming an increasingly popular destination for immigrants. More than 9,000 immigrants had a Columbus address in new immigration court proceedings in fiscal year 2023, a 350 percent increase from fiscal year 2019, according to immigration court data made available by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
In total, the Biden administration has issued about 16,300 work permits in Ohio since the start of fiscal year 2024 to asylum seekers and certain individuals granted humanitarian release, including through the new legal pathways, a Department of Homeland Security official said.
But the record arrival of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border poses a political challenge for Biden compared to former President Trump, who made tackling immigration a key campaign theme.
A White House spokesman said the Biden administration has called on Congress to pass bipartisan immigration reform legislation, which has been blocked by Republicans.
The processing of work permits has also been accelerated and new legal procedures have been created, allowing hundreds of thousands of migrants to apply for permits directly.