Thread: Fake residents, real woes

Fake residents, real woes

School district files police report over family's bid to enroll 5 kids
By Ignacio Ibarra


ARIZONA DAILY STAR

NOGALES, Ariz. - A criminal complaint filed with police by the Nogales school district over a student's questionable enrollment is the newest method to deal with an old problem: Mexican youngsters who cross the border with fake addresses to get into American public schools.

Though students are supposed to prove they live within school district boundaries to enroll in school, Sonoran families have used fake addresses or those of relatives to get into classrooms north of the border.

The complaint claims a woman is trying to enroll five children in public schools by using an address at a Nogales trailer park that isn't hers.

The district has handled such cases administratively in the past, said Superintendent Kelt Cooper, but "technically, there's potential here for up to five felony violations."

"We turned it over to the police," he said. "What they do, and what the county attorney does with the case, is a different story." He said the practice robs district students of already limited resources and burdens the taxpayer with paying for educating Mexican children.

Capt. Rey Bermudez of the Nogales Police Department confirmed the district's complaint but declined further comment because of the ongoing investigation.

Last month, Tom Horne, the state schools superintendent, called on state Attorney General Terry Goddard to investigate the scope of the problem.

While there is as yet no investigation, there are discussions with the Attorney General's Office on how such an investigation would proceed, said Amy Rezzonico, a spokeswoman for Horne.

It's difficult to know how many children are crossing the border to attend Arizona schools using bogus addresses, and schools are prohibited by law from asking about a student's citizenship.

District officials in Nogales have identified nearly 600 questionable enrollments, and more than 300 Mexican students have been dropped from the school rolls since 2001. Cooper believes that 5 percent to 10 percent of the district's 6,145 students may be attending school fraudulently.

"It's an ongoing problem in any border town. People figure out a means to get kids into school when they don't live in the school district," said Cooper.

In 2000, the district received complaints from the parents of Rio Rico and Tubac youths tired of competing with Mexican students for a limited number of seats available in Nogales public schools through open enrollment.

In 2001, the stream of youths in red, white or blue polo shirts - the type worn by students at the four elementary schools in Nogales - made the unofficial and illegal student exchange program an open secret. Illegal cross-border enrollment slowed in the weeks that followed the Sept.11 terrorist attacks because of increased border security and Mexican parents keeping their kids at home.

"I knew intuitively that we had people claiming to live here when they didn't, but I couldn't get my internal machinery to investigate and ascertain the extent of the problem," said Cooper, a native of El Paso.

So the district started sending monitors down to the border to see which students were crossing in and out of Mexico, tracking the frequency of their visits. They also started to double-check enrollment applications, giving more scrutiny to residency claims.

"Periodically we'll pull up all the known addresses listed in the district and cross-reference that with student names," Cooper said. "On occasion we've had 15 to 20 different names at the same address."

Last year when security officers were routinely monitoring the border and making home visits, more than 120 students were dropped after they were determined to be illegally enrolled, said Isabel Clarke, the district's registrar. The level of scrutiny has dropped this year because of budget concerns, and the number of students dropped from the district over residency issues so far this year is less than 30.

"The schools are right to do what they're doing," said Jorge Villalpando, 48, the father of two Nogales school district students.

"The school is a benefit that the government and society here give as a benefit to the kids who live here," Villalpando said. "I myself don't know of anyone personally, but I know they're coming because you can see them every day filling up the lines at the border."

However, the border can be a barrier to movement in both directions, say staffers at Casa De La Misericordia - House of Mercy - in Nogales, Sonora. Officials there say they frequently see U.S.-born school-age children roaming the streets. Often the children lack the documentation, such as a birth certificate, which keeps them out of schools on either side of the border.

"That worries us," said Esther Torres, food program director for the home that provides schooling and meals for needy children as well as adult education. "These children need so much more than food: They need an education and love - lots of love."

Torres said the children kept out of school come to the center at times, but for the most part they roam the neighborhood getting into mischief.

Jesenya Cantú, 25, lived in Phoenix until she broke up with her boyfriend about eight months ago and returned to Nogales, Sonora, with her three children, including, Angel, who was born in Nogales, Arizona.

Cantú said she pulled Angel out of the fourth grade in Phoenix, and he hasn't been in school since.

Angel's birth certificate is lost, and Cantú says that she has been unable to travel across the border to get a new copy, a document that's needed to enroll in school.

The situation in Nogales is similar to those in other border communities.

In Douglas, truant officers monitor border crossings and visit homes, said Gail Zamar, the interim superintendent for the Douglas School District. "It's been a problem and it continues to be a problem," she said.

Enforcement efforts and proof of residency rules that require families to provide school officials with a birth certificate and three documents - like utility bills and car registrations - to prove where students live don't put a complete stop to the problem, she said. "We know that there are people who get through the cracks," Zamar said.

The number of students who are living in Mexico among the 4,000 enrolled in the district's schools is unknown, she said. However, Zamar said, about a dozen such students have been removed from the school so far in the school year .

° Contact Ignacio Ibarra at 806-7746 or at ignacioi@prodigy.net.mx.

The number of students who are living in Mexico among the 4,000 enrolled in the district's schools is unknown, she said.

Build the fence. Then you'll know.

If they don't live in the area let alone the country then they shouldn't go to school there. We pay enough taxes and don't need to educate those that shouldn't be there. Keep them out.