Thread: TX - Crackdown on students crossing border to go to school

BY EMILY BAUCUM, FOX SAN ANTONIO TUESDAY, MAY 24TH 2016

EAGLE PASS, TX - Students living in Mexico but attending public school in the United States - it's become a big controversy in Eagle Pass where some residents have raised concern about where their tax dollars are going.

"We have students that are from Mexico and they come and go every day," says an Eagle Pass High School senior who chose not to be identified.

The Eagle Pass Independent School District explains how administrators crack down on those students.

Assistant Superintendent Samuel Mijares says state law allows kids living in the U.S. illegally to attend public school. The issue the district faces is residency.

"Residency means that they physically live in the district," Mijares says. "It doesn't mean that they're legal residents. And sometimes, there's a misunderstanding."

Fifteen thousand students attend public school in Eagle Pass. The district requires each family to hand over an electricity bill as proof of residency.

"But sometimes we do have families - the family lives behind their parents' house," Mijares says. "Well, they don't have a light bill. We require them to give us an affidavit that they live there."

He says if there's any suspicion, the district investigates and takes action if students are found to be crossing the border to go home.

"We immediately contact the school and we ask them to withdraw," Mijares says.

The screening process is meant to preserve every child's right to an education. But the high school senior says some kids will always slip through the system.

"Every year we have kids from Mexico and it doesn't seem to stop," she says.

http://foxsanantonio.com/news/local/...ool-05-24-2016

9/21/2009

Students warned to prove Texas residence or leave