(The Lion) — The Oklahoma State Department of Education has filed a lawsuit against the federal government to recoup funds spent educating the massive influx of immigrant children into the state.

According to an official press release, the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters, announced the $474 million lawsuit against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Deputy Director Peter Flores.

The suit seeks “compensation for the severe financial and operational strain that their failed border policies have placed on Oklahoma’s public schools,” said the release.

Biden administration leaders have “utterly abandoned their constitutional duty to secure our nation’s borders, leaving states like Oklahoma to pick up the pieces,” Walters argued in the announcement.

“Their negligence has been a sad and harmful trademark of the Biden administration and has sent shockwaves across our communities, overburdening schools with unfunded mandates and diverting resources from Oklahoma children.”

Included in the key points of the lawsuit are charges:

• Oklahoma taxpayers have been burdened with millions of dollars in additional education expenditures resulting from the Biden administration’s open-border policies.

• State funding that should be going to educate the children of Oklahoma taxpayers is instead being diverted to address the failures of the federal government, an expense that affects “every Oklahoma student, family, and public school district,” according to the press release.

• The failure of Biden and Mayorkas to secure the U.S. border is a violation of their responsibility to protect national security, leaving states to fend for themselves.

“Despite the promise long enshrined in our nation’s history, the federal government has routinely failed in its duty to promote the welfare of its citizens,” reads the lawsuit, as reported by Chalkboard News. “Nowhere is that more evident than in the Biden administration’s abject failure to secure our nation’s borders. …

“When the federal government fails to uphold the sworn oaths of their respective offices, it falls to the individual states to make amends for the sins of the sovereign. In this respect, Oklahoma’s public education system – federally bound to provide every child who resides within the state a free and public education – must be permitted to serve the best interests of the children of the state of Oklahoma.”

The suit specifically names the “United States Departments of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Education, along with United States Border Patrol and Security,” which it says “must be held accountable for their failure to properly secure this nation’s border.”

The lawsuit alleges the federally created immigration crisis has led to an increased cost associated with additional teachers and staff statewide. Specifically, more than 6,000 students in Oklahoma are now designated as limited in English proficiency.

“It is estimated that Oklahoma will need, at a minimum, an additional 1,065 properly certified teachers in the next 5 years,” according to the complaint. “These necessary expenses will be an additional education cost borne by state taxpayers that is directly attributable to the Biden administration’s repeated failure to properly manage immigration and secure the nation’s borders.”

“While President Biden has neglected his responsibility to protect our borders for four years, hardworking Oklahomans are forced to cover the costs of his dereliction of duty,” Walters said in public comments.

“This lawsuit is about accountability and ensuring that our children receive the quality education they deserve, free from the federal government’s failures, even from a failed outgoing administration. …

“We want to make sure that the $474 million Oklahoma taxpayers spent to educate the children of illegal immigrants is reimbursed back to our taxpayers, so that it can go back to our schools, and make sure we’re getting the best education possible for our kids.”

One state immigration group, Dream Action Oklahoma, has criticized the lawsuit, calling it “utterly ridiculous,” reported Oklahoma City’s Fox News affiliate.

“Frankly, I think it’s embarrassing,” said group spokesperson Cynthia Garcia. “While we are ranked 49th in the U.S. in education, our superintendent continues to focus on vilifying and further isolating immigrants and undocumented students instead of actually doing his job.”

Similarly, Erica Watkins, director of the group Defense of Democracy Oklahoma, dismissed the lawsuit as Walters’ “usual divisive, attention-seeking, political posturing designed to distract from his own failures as state superintendent.”

Watkins claimed that under Walters’ leadership, “Oklahoma’s schools face worsening teacher shortages, chronic underfunding, and declining educational outcomes. Yet, instead of doing his job and focusing on tangible solutions to help Oklahoma’s children succeed, Walters is peddling xenophobic rhetoric and attacking immigrant communities.”

In response to such criticism, Walters pointed to President Trump’s stated intention to address the nation’s illegal immigration crisis.

“We’re doing all that we can to support President Trump on that agenda,” Walters said. “The first thing is holding those individuals accountable who created this mess. We believe every state should join us in this lawsuit, and we’re proud to be the state that’s holding Joe Biden and Kamala Harris accountable.”

According to the Oklahoman newspaper, “Walters’ lawsuit isn’t the first time the superintendent cited $474 million as the amount of money the state spends on expenses related to undocumented students in Oklahoma schools. In November, Walters sent a letter to Vice President Kamala Harris demanding she send $474.9 million to reimburse Oklahoma taxpayers for paying to educate children whose parents are undocumented.”