"It's all in the past": 1,400 immigrant minors find hope in the largest school system in the country

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3:12

(CNN) --

After the adversities of their journey from South America to the United States, Marialena Coromoto and her 13-year-old daughter, Neimarys, see hope in the American school system.

Days before her first day of class, Neimarys described finally feeling at peace after months of uncertainty.

The young Venezuelan immigrant, sitting on a park bench near the hotel in Queens, New York, where she is staying with her mother, proudly displayed some of her basic English skills: "Hello. How are you?", and a colorful backpack with notebooks, pencils and a ruler that had been donated to him.

"Everything is in the past," Neimarys said in Spanish, speaking of his long journey to the Mexican border.

"It was not an American dream, but a nightmare."

When New York City public schools reopened Sept. 8, Neimarys was among 1,400 immigrant children enrolled to start the academic year, according to city officials.

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"I'm excited because I'm in a country that will help me become the professional I want to be," said Neimarys, who is undecided about a career but hopes to one day return to Venezuela and buy a house.

Neimarys and her 31-year-old mother are part of a wave of undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers who have arrived in New York in recent months.

Most flee economic insecurity and political turmoil in Central and South America

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Now public schools are rushing to recruit staff to support newcomers and prepare students who have experienced trauma.

"We want all children to have the opportunity to develop, grow and thrive, regardless of their zip code, their ethnicity or how they got here," New York Mayor Eric Adams said at a Bronx elementary school. the first day of classes.

"Those 1,400 students will be treated with the same love and care as the students who grew up in this educational system."

"I knew we couldn't give up"

The Democratic mayor has clashed with Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott for busing hundreds of migrants to New York City.

Texas has also bused newly arrived immigrants awaiting immigration court proceedings to Washington and Chicago.

Some undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers arrived on buses chartered by Texas to expose what Abbott says is the Biden administration's failure on border security.

Others, like Neimarys and her mother, arrived in New York on flights from San Antonio and other cities near the southern border.

In some cases, non-profit organizations or family members cover their plane tickets.

New York is using more than a dozen hotels as emergency shelters, according to city officials.

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More than 1,500 of the new arrivals are minors of school age, according to municipal authorities.

Most deal with language barriers, homelessness, financial stress, and emotional trauma.

"I had to stay strong," Neimarys said of the trek north through remote jungle and rugged mountains.

"My mother was crying and I was encouraging her to keep going. She knew we couldn't give up and stay where we were."

Schools try to meet the multiple needs of students

Pan American International High School is in one of the city's six school districts that are hosting the majority of the school-age children in this summer's wave of immigrants.

The campus, with an enrollment of about 350 students last year, is in Elmhurst, Queens, one of New York's most diverse neighborhoods.

The school bills itself as a "diverse learning community of recent immigrant Latino students," according to its bilingual website.

At least 75 new students have enrolled this year and nearly all of them are children of newly arrived asylum seekers, said Director Waleska Velez.

“We are prepared to support those students not only academically, but also with social and emotional support,” Velez said.

School administrations, already facing huge budget cuts, declining enrollments and teacher shortages, are now seeking to hire certified bilingual teachers and other support staff to cope with the influx of Spanish-speaking children from immigrant families.

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"Think about the fact that we cut a couple of hundred million dollars from our education budget and now we have kids coming in with specialized needs," the New York Assemblywoman said.

Catalina Cruz, immigrant from Colombia and former undocumented student.

"These are kids who have severe trauma, families who have high needs and we have to invest in them and the rest of our city to make sure our kids and teachers and community are in a position to welcome them."

"You are not alone in this"

Last month, the Adams administration established the Open Arms Project to reach out to migrant families in shelters and help them enroll their children in schools.

The project also offers language support, legal services, transportation and school supplies.

"We are showing these families that they are not alone in this and we are making sure our schools are prepared for it," said David Banks, head of the Department for Education.

"I can't even begin to imagine the level of challenge and trauma that so many of these families have gone through."

Adams on Wednesday called the surge of asylum seekers pouring into New York City from the southern border "unprecedented."

"Since May, this administration has, single-handedly, safely and efficiently provided shelter, health care, education and a host of other services to more than 11,000 people, predominantly from Central and South America, seeking a better life," he said. Adams in a press release.

Most are families with children.

The Department of Education is expediting applications for support from city schools.

"We definitely have some concerns about how well and what kind of systems we can have in place to provide truly comprehensive supports for students," said Alan Cheng, an Education Department district superintendent for nearly 50 high schools.

"The challenge will be how do we ensure the continuity of these services. How do we ensure that these people are not forgotten after the first week or the first month?"

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Neimarys and her mother, originally from the Venezuelan state of Falcón, in the northwest of the country, had been living in Ecuador for five years.

On May 14, they set off north with a group of friends and family.

On June 17, Neimarys and her mother crossed the Rio Grande River into the United States.

"I want her to learn a lot and open her mind," Marialena Coromoto said of her daughter's enrollment in a city public school.

"I want him to leave everything we've endured behind."

Neimarys, carrying her backpack full of school supplies days before the start of classes, is ready for her next trip.

"I don't speak English and that will make things difficult," he says of the upcoming school year, "but I'm confident I can handle it."

-- Laura Ly contributed to this report.

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