The Undocumented Students Dilemma

An article from the School Board Association

Information about undocumented students?

1. Do public schools have to educate undocumented students, and if so, why?

Yes. In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Plyler v. Doe that Texas had violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by denying undocumented school-age children a free public education. Reasoning that such children are in this country through no fault of their own, the court concluded that they are entitled to the same K-12 education that the state provides to children who are citizens or legal residents.

Students or their parents may be residents of a public school district for purposes of the state's student residency laws, even if they are not "legal" residents or citizens of the U.S.

2, Can school districts ask students about their immigration status?

Probably not. Plyler does not directly answer the question of whether a school district may ask students about their immigration status. However, a number of organizations, including some state departments of education, interpret Plyler to require that a school district not chill or hinder an undocumented students access to education. Assuming this interpretation would be accepted by a court, school districts questioning stu­dents about immigration status likely would be invalid under Plyler because such questioning likely would dissuade undocumented children from enrolling in school.

Again, it is important to distinguish between residency in a school district's attendance area, and "legal" residency or citizenship of the U.S. In some instances, school districts have asked students about their immigration status during the enrollment process to prove residency of the student in the district's attendance area. School districts seeking to prove that a particular student is a resident of the district can ask for documentation such as a utility bill or a lease that pro­vides evidence of where the student lives but does not indicate immigration status.

3. Should school districts report undocumented students to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)?

Probably not. No federal law requires a school district to report undocumented students to immigration authorities, and arguably, school districts are prohibited from reporting them by Plyler. As dis­cussed above, any voluntary reporting of undocumented students could be consid­ered an affront to Plyler's mandate that undocumented children have access to education. If school authorities report an undocumented student to ICE and ICE subsequently deports or removes the stu­dent from school, the school district's actions could be viewed as having denied that student access to school. Even if reporting the student does not actually lead to a denial of access to school, reporting undocumented students would undoubtedly have a chilling effect on the right to access to education because, practically speaking, it would likely drive parents of undocumented students to pull their children out of school indefi­nitely.

It is difficult to determine with much certainty the answer to many of the legal questions about undocumented students that arise in schools because of the absence of statutory or case law directly answering the questions. In many instances, Plyer is the only relevant law. For this reason, school districts faced with legal questions about educating undocumented students should contact their school attorney. (END of article)•



As I have been visiting our schools a question that keeps coming to mind is what should be done about the AYP challenges and the problems created for our administrators and faculties by subgroups containing the children of illegal aliens. We do not know whether a child is undocumented or not but why. This is an issue for the public as the U.S. Supreme Court has left only two options; ignore the problem or enforce the U.S. Immigration laws and deport the illegal alien parents of these children. These illegal alien parents have broken our laws and illegally crossed our borders.

North Carolina spends $485 million dollars annually educating the children of illegal aliens not counting other benefits illegally obtained by these illegals. We need the current government administration, the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives and Executive Branch to start doing their job under the U.S. Constitution and enforcing the laws of this nation and protecting our borders. The elected officials and bureaucrats in Washington DC act as though the USA has unlimited wealth and resources. But we all know as do they that the United States of America is bankrupt we do not have the means to pay our bills.

Two weeks ago the Federal Reserve (a private bank controlled by foreigners) announced publicly, what we have suspected for a while, that it is monetizing the U.S.National Debt. This means printing U.S Dollars to pay our obligations. The result of this action is to devalue the dollar, a subtle hidden tax on every citizen and holder of U.S. debt. The Federal Reserve had to do this because those lenders who hold our debt are wary about the financial stability of our country due to our deficit spending and the rapid acceleration of our national debt. These lenders are beginning to divest themselves of our debt instruments and currency. Since few are buying our debt the Federal Reserve acted by announcing that they are monetizing our debt. The U.S.of A has begun its spiral decent into financial destruction.

These issues are noted because the majority of our elected leaders seem oblivious to these facts proposing amnesty and benefits to 12 million plus illegal aliens. Do we the American Citizens have the fortitude to tighten our belts by controlling our spending and accepting less of our own volition or will we wait to have it forced upon us? One only need read about the German Wiemar Republic following WWI. The plight of the Germans was forced upon them by war reparations but ours is due to our costly wars and our living beyond our means on borrowed money. The end of the Wiemar Republic was disastrous, and brought about the rise of Hitler, the NAZI Party, another world war and destruction across the globe.