Thirty years ago this week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a state may not deny access to a basic public education to any child, whether that child is present in the country legally or not. The court鈥檚 decision in clearly has fresh resonance today, when several states have enacted tough immigration laws.
鈥Plyler represents the best of our collective ideals as a nation,鈥 Thomas E. Perez, the assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights, said at an event Monday to commemorate the decision. 鈥淎lthough countless children, and our country as a whole, have directly benefited from Plyler鈥荣 holding, the past year has shown us that we still have far to travel.鈥
Perez, speaking at the Washington event organized by the American Civil Liberties Union, was referring to the controversial 2011 Alabama immigration law that requires schools to gather information about the immigration and citizenship status of children when they enroll, as well as to some more isolated practices at schools in other states.
鈥Plyler is the law of the land,鈥 Perez added. 鈥淩egrettably, we need to continue to remind institutions it is the law of the land.鈥
In the Plyler decision, issued June 15, 1982, the high court ruled 5-4 that it violated the equal-protection clause of the 14th Amendment for the state of Texas to withhold funds from school districts for the education of undocumented immigrant children.
鈥淏y denying these children a basic education, we deny them the ability to live within the structure of our civic institutions, and foreclose any realistic possibility that they will contribute in even the smallest way to the progress of our nation,鈥 Justice William J. Brennan Jr. wrote for the majority. (澳门跑狗论坛鈥荣 Mary Ann Zehr visited Tyler, Texas, around the time of the 25th anniversary of the Plyler decision.)
In May 2011, Perez and Russlyn Ali, the assistant secretary for civil rights in the U.S. Department of Education, sent a to educators reminding them of the legal mandates of Plyler and federal civil rights laws with respect to enrolling children.
Alabama鈥檚 law requires public schools to 鈥渄etermine whether the student enrolling in public school was born outside the jurisdiction of the United States or is the child of an alien not lawfully present in the United States.鈥
The schools provision, known as Section 28, requires students or their parents to present an original birth certificate at the time of enrollment. For those who cannot present proper documentation, schools are required to assume they are aliens 鈥渦nlawfully present鈥 in the United States. The measure requires schools to maintain statistics about the numbers of such students.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, has the provision from taking effect, and it in lawsuits by the federal government and private parties challenging the Alabama law, which has other immigration provisions.
The state of Alabama has defended its law, arguing in a that 鈥淪ection 28 imposes no consequences on any student or parent for failing to comply with it鈥攍et alone consequences based on immigration status or any other status. And the record is undisputed that Alabama schools remain open under Section 28 to all children regardless of their immigration status (or their parents鈥 status).鈥
Defenders of the law were not part of the ACLU panel discussion on Monday, which included advocates, an Alabama educator, and a community organizer.
Alabama鈥檚 鈥渦nprecedented law is anti-immigrant, anti-child, and anti-education鈥攁nd thus anti-Plyler,鈥 said Laura Murphy, the director of the ACLU鈥檚 Washington legislative office and the moderator of the panel.
The Justice Department鈥檚 Perez and the Education Department鈥檚 Ali emphasized that federal officials remain active in Alabama, working with school administrators to counter the mass departures of students, some undocumented but many who are U.S. citizens.
鈥淲e continue to have boots on the ground,鈥 said Perez. 鈥淥ur goal is to ensure that every student is enrolled.鈥
William Lawrence, the principal of Foley Elementary School in Foley, Ala., noted that in the first nine days after the Alabama law was adopted, his school experience 134 absences, and 64 of his school鈥檚 1,200 students withdrew and moved out of state.
There was an intense climate of fear caused by the law, including rumors such as 鈥渢he immigration buses are coming to get us,鈥 Lawrence said. Foley Elementary and the immigration law are the focus of this story by Lesli A. Maxwell in 澳门跑狗论坛鈥荣 Diplomas Count report.
Thomas A. Saenz, the president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, based in Los Angeles, said the Plyler decision was his organization鈥檚 proudest achievement.
鈥淭he case deserves far more attention that it receives,鈥 both among the general public and in law schools, Saenz said.