Tennessee’s special legislative committee investigating immigration got its first look at the financial costs of unaccompanied minors in the state during a hearing Tuesday.
Krista Lee Carsner, executive director of the Fiscal Review Committee, told the lawmakers she could only provide estimates with “a lot of assumptions” to some of the special committee’s financial questions about the costs of educating and insuring migrant children.
Migrant children, either housed in a shelter or in the custody of a sponsor, are not eligible for TennCare until they meet citizenship requirements, which are decided through immigration court proceedings that can take around two years.
If children become legal U.S. citizens, they could then qualify for TennCare, a government health insurance program for mostly low-income children, pregnant women, parents or caretakers of minor children and those who are elderly or have a disability.
TennCare and the schools are not keeping track of how many children were previously undocumented but now legally qualify, Carsner told the Times Free Press on Friday.