School board member enrages left by revealing why it’s good migrant kids are getting deported: ‘More the better’

A San Diego school board member has enraged the left after saying deporting migrant children made schools “better.”

“The more illegal aliens with children are deported from Ramona, the better the student-to-teacher ratio,” Maya Phillips, a Ramona Unified School District board member, said at the March 4 meeting.

She went on to explain the reduction in the student population, given their legal status, would make “better the quality of education for our American and legal immigrant children,” and justified her views “from a practical perspective.”

In an email to CBS 8 San Diego, the board member said she does not pick one side over the other, but rather made a practical observation.

The California Post has reached out to Phillips for further comment.

San Diego County — home to an estimated 150,000+ undocumented immigrants — has been especially affected by nationwide immigration enforcement.

In 2025, child detentions rose sharply: More than 250 children were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego and Imperial counties.

Phillips said families who come to the US illegally make a choice and put their kids in environments such as the one currently in the US.

“I want to reassure American families in our district and immigrant families who are here legally that they have no reason to worry about immigration enforcement and no cause for their children to miss school,” the trustee said.

“As for families of illegal aliens, the worry and concern about immigration enforcement is totally appropriate, warranted, well-placed and justified.

“It’s a choice to be in the country illegally, and parents choose to put their kids in this situation of constant fear of enforcement.”

Phillips herself immigrated from St. Petersburg, Russia in 1999 and became a US citizen in 2006.

“These comments were made by Trustee Phillips in the portion of the meeting designated for board members’ individual comments,” Daryn Drum, president of the Ramona Unified School District Board of Trustees, told CBS 8.

“Our School Board, teachers, staff and District work incredibly hard every day to create an educational environment that is safe, welcoming and non-judgmental for all students.”

Parents and community members are angered. “I disagree with those comments,” Talia Maya said.

“I think as educators, the children always come first, right? Like their safety, them feeling included and them feeling like they belong, you know,” another parent, Jenny Velasco, added.

“So it’s just unfortunate to know that in 2026 we’re still having these conversations of people being called illegal or this or that, but they’re not seeing them as humans, you know? They’re seeing [children] as numbers or statistics,” Velasco said.

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