Requiring a Disclosure of Citizenship Unfairly Targets Children and is Detrimental to the Community
Requiring a disclosure of citizenship when a child enrolls in school could be unconstitutional and could cost Texas money to defend.
· Plyler vs. Doe upholds the Fourteenth Amendment in guaranteeing that all children in the United States, regardless of immigration or residency status, are entitled to receive primary and secondary public education.
· Children should not be punished for decisions that their parents make.
· This denies their access to equal education, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and possibly the 14th amendment.
Compiling this type of information opens the door to future segregation and/or discrimination.
· Seniority policies send the best teachers to high income schools. As a result, students attending schools in low income areas and with sizeable minority populations already have a disproportionately low number of experienced and qualified teachers and administrators.
· Gathering data about undocumented student populations in school districts creates further disincentives for high quality teachers to teach there, lowering the quality of education for all students in the district.
Such a requirement will not stop illegal immigration
· Mandating that a child’s residency status be disclosed will not deter undocumented immigrants from coming to Texas, it will only discourage them from enrolling their children in public school.
Such a policy would intimidate immigrant parents and marginalize their children, which is a loss for Texas.
· Children, regardless of their status, should not be unattended and left to roam the streets. They should be in class, receiving an education.
· With more education, an individual becomes more productive, is less likely to commit crimes, and less likely to become a public charge. Texas depends on an educated population.
· Immigrant children need to be integrated and assimilated. Requiring them to disclose their residency status, will only lead to further marginalization.