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It is not always a fairy tale ending for the American dream pursuit. Prince George County school system had hundreds of international teachers recruited from across the globe. Today, they face a startling situation. They have all been asked to go back home.

It was in the year 2002 that these teachers were recruited to fill in the need for highly qualified teachers in keeping with the No Child Left Behind law.  Now, they are caught in a dispute between the US Department of Labor and the school system. Next week, the first lot of teachers will be departing Washington.

Teachers like Maria Estravez was recruited by Prince George County school officials from Philippines in the year 2006. She was promised green card and permanent residency which helped her make a decision to move to Clinton, Md. She is a math teacher at the Stephen Decatur Middle School. She has since worked very hard to make her students like math.

She and other international teachers paid the temporary employment visa fees from their pockets. Incidentally, this fee was supposed to be paid by the Prince George County school district. They then continued to focus on their classes not realizing that there was a problem brewing. Also, their American counterparts were being paid much higher salaries.

The fact that Prince George County is a “willful violator” is well known by the US Department of Labor. They were clearly breaking the law and the officials knew all about it. Of course, this accusation is being denied by the school system. They were however ordered to pay $4000 for each teacher which amounted to $4 million in back pay. Apart from this, they were also charged a fine of $100,000.

Until the year 2014, the law forbids Prince George school district from recruiting international or from renewing new visas or applying for new visas. This is the major issue that is forcing at least 250 teachers to leave the country by this year end. Many more will have to follow soon.

A statement was issued by Briant Coleman, the spokesperson for the school saying that everything possible was done by them to retain these valued and excellent employees. He went on to say that it became impossible to continue this program with mounting legal fees and shrinking school budget.

Many teachers have been described by the school officials as being exceptional and they have won many awards.

According to FAIR or Federation for American Immigration Reform’s Ira Mehlman, when there is so much unemployment in this country, there is no point going out of the way to recruit teachers from across the globe even though they may be very good in their job.

Recently Coleman said in a press release that the school system could face a devastating impact if these teachers go. There is no further comment from him now on how the school system was faring and on whether they have found any replacements.