Fright School - Fearing Back to School
Fall is here and that means the school year is well under way for the nations students. While parents and students are usually excited to get back to regular routines, this was not the case in many immigrant homes. Families with one or more undocumented member are forced to face fears of jail and or deportation in the event that they report to school as they have done in the past. From sting operations designed to pick up undocumented parents to fears that ICE will use form and formularies based on information provided to schools to determine an undocumented person in the home,
immigrants and their families feel forced to stay away from school based on both real and imagined threats.
A 1992 landmark case determined that denying a child an education was unconsitutional based on their immigration status.
“…the Supreme Court in Plyler v. Doe endorsed that assessment by deeming the measure unconstitutional in a 5–4 decision. Justice William Brennan’s opinion rested on three key justifications.
First, Brennan emphasized that the Texas law penalized minors, repeatedly referred to as “innocent children,” not because of their own conduct but because of their parent’s actions.
Second, Brennan contended that the measure’s absolute exclusion of unauthorized immigrants from school severely burdened this vulnerable group. The complete absence of education would “impose a lifetime hardship” on young unauthorized immigrants, harming not only their own economic prospects but also their ability to contribute to the nation’s civic life.
Third, Brennan suggested that upholding Texas’s law would “raise the specter of a permanent caste of undocumented resident aliens” because it curtailed access to American public schools—traditionally, an invaluable aid in sociocultural assimilation. Brennan reasoned.”
The terrorists thought they would change my aims and stop my ambitions, but nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear, and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage were born.
-Malala Yousatzal
“We cannot ignore the significant costs borne by our Nation when select groups are denied the means to absorb the values and skills upon which our social order rests,” -[1](Driver, 2018)
For many years following this landmark decision, students whether undocumented or documented could feel safe that they had the right to a free and safe education. “The Trump administration has imposed more stringent rules and vetting for family members to get these children back as part of an across-the-board hardening of immigration policy. As a result, family members are struggling to comply with the new requirement, keeping children in detention longer and helping the number of migrant kids in government custody soar to the highest levels ever. Federal officials insist the policies are about ensuring the safety of children. More than 12,000 children are now in government shelters, compared with 2,400 in May 2017. The average length that children spend in detention has increased from 40 days in fiscal year 2016 to 59 in fiscal year 2018, according to federal data.” [2](AP, 2018) Many immigrant families feel trapped; not knowing what decision will allow them to keep their families safe and most importantly together.
The new rules that claim to be imposed in order to keep these children safe are having detrimental circumstances for family members causing many to intentionally remain in the shadows. “The requirements include the submission of fingerprints by all adults in the household where a migrant child will live. These sponsors — the term the U.S. uses for adults who take custody of immigrant children — are also subject to more background checks, proofs of income and home visits, lawyers say. [Now] this information will now be shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement — something that did not occur in the past. ICE said this week that the agency has arrested 41 sponsors since the agencies started sharing information in June.” [3](AP, 2018)
US schools are becoming a space that is safe for fewer and fewer. When the courts determined that it would be unfair to deny children an education because it would perpetuate conditions that already keep them in a position to be marginalized, no one would have suspected this would become a political issue in the next century. Now along with training to dodge bullets of disgruntled classmates, students must learn how to determine whether they will have to protect their families from deportation. Facing danger from so many sides and they haven’t even hit midterms. The challenges of education are growing and we haven’t even begun to discuss what’s going on in their classrooms.
Associated Press (September 23rd, 2018) Parents face tougher rules to get undocumented children back https://bit.ly/2xCi6j9
Driver, Justin (September 20th, 2018) “The Schoolhouse Gate”: Public Schools, Unauthorized Immigrants, and the Overlooked Import of Plyler v. Doe https://bit.ly/2Oca0Yb
[1] Driver, Justin (September 20th, 2018) “The Schoolhouse Gate”: Public Schools, Unauthorized Immigrants, and the Overlooked Import of Plyler v. Doe https://bit.ly/2Oca0Yb
[2] Associated Press (September 23rd, 2018) Parents face tougher rules to get undocumented children back https://bit.ly/2xCi6j9
[3] Associated Press (September 23rd, 2018) Parents face tougher rules to get undocumented children back https://bit.ly/2xCi6j9
