Thread: With Immigrants, Districts Balance Safety, Legalities

Published in Print: September 12, 2007

With Immigrants, Districts Balance Safety, Legalities
By Mary Ann Zehr




Amid stepped-up federal efforts to curb illegal immigration, some school districts with large numbers of immigrant students are crafting new policies intended to balance cooperation with federal officials, protection of student privacy, and the safety of students during enforcement operations.

In Albuquerque and Santa Fe, N.M., for example, school personnel are barred from putting information about a child’s immigration status in school records or sharing it with outside agencies, including federal immigration authorities. Personnel are also told to deny any request from immigration officials to enter a school to search for information or seize students. School officials—with the help of lawyers—instead would determine whether to grant access.

Meanwhile, some small communities with an influx of immigrants are weighing how best to respond if children are left stranded at school because family members have been detained in an immigration raid.

“There are schools with a high number of undocumented workers in their communities who are having to react to these issues, … whether it’s children being left without parents or [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] workers trying to get information from the schools,â€

They would have never brought their children if they knew they couldn't put them in school. The court ruling was one of the most ignorant and costly as well as disruptive to ever come down the pike.

Why do U.S. taxpayers have to pay for the education of Mexican children? Our own children deserve a better situation than having to cope with this influx of alien children. It's time we take back this country and make d@@n sure they know who's paying the bills!!