Mexican Students Enrolling in U.S. Schools to Escape Violence

Students from south of the border are fleeing to the United States and enrolling in U.S. schools. They’re trying to escape the violence, but they can’t escape the suffering. Tornillo Independent School District Superintendent Paul Vranish is leading his district through a crisis. CHANNEL 5 NEWS traveled to the West Texas school district. We learned a school counselor had to break some devastating news. “She's gotta go over there one morning and tell a 15-year-old freshman girl, ‘Your mother was killed today on the way to work,’" explains the superintendent. Schools in nearby Fort Hancock are facing the same issues. Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West says students have fled the violence in Mexico and enrolled in U.S. schools. “Well the number one concern is somebody being kidnapped,” he tells us. Lt. Robert Wilson of Hudspeth County says suspicious vehicles were spotted following Fort Hancock school buses. “The suspicions are that they were checking school routes and maybe where certain children were getting off,” Wilson explains. Now officers are patrolling the schools. The lieutenant says, “There have been some threats on some students and some teachers and people in the community." Other school districts are alarmed at what's happening along the border. In nearby Culberson County, sheriff's deputies now escort school buses to all sporting events in Fort Hancock. Another district chose to cancel its games. “It will be a common practice if this thing doesn't get resolved,” says Culberson County Sheriff Oscar Carillo...more