14-Year Old Barred From School

Undocumented immigrants are routinely enrolled at Elmwood Park High School, but in a highly unusual policy that some call illegal, officials in November denied admission to a 14-year-old Ecuadorean girl who they said had a valid tourist visa.

When the teen–identified only as Sharon M.–tried to enroll, officials turned her away, saying she had no right to attend school because she had a B-2 visa and wasn’t a resident.

The girl moved out of the district in fear that officials would report her to immigration authorities and she would be deported, her attorney said. But her case has become the center of a fierce legal fight between the school district and the Illinois State Board of Education over the right of immigrants to have access to free public education.

In December, the state board put Elmwood Park Community Unit District 401 on probation and threatened to pull $10 million in state funding if it didn’t change its policy. But district officials have refused to budge, saying enrolling the student would violate federal immigration laws.

Last week, school officials sued in U.S. District Court in Chicago, asking a judge to allow them to continue their policy and to stop the state from taking punitive action.

“I can tell you everyone is lined up to fight us,” said Justin Petrarca, attorney for the district. “We are going to continue to implement our residency program as we have until a judge tells us we are wrong.”

State laws as well as federal precedent guarantee undocumented immigrant children the right to enroll in public schools, experts say.

But Elmwood Park school officials argue that because the girl was here on what they say was a valid visa, she didn’t qualify for the protections afforded to the undocumented.

Allowing her to enroll would have helped her violate the terms of her visa, which prohibits school attendance, officials said, adding that it also might have subjected the district to federal prosecution.

The state board disagrees.

“We simply feel their practice is illegal and wrong,” said Jonathan Furr, the board’s general counsel. “We do not understand the logic behind their argument.”

source: chicago tribune, Feb. 9, 2006

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