Immigrant children kept from enrolling in school, investigation shows
In 1982, the Supreme Court in Plyler v. Doe held that Texas could not effectively deny a K-12 education to undocumented students. More than 30 years later, the Court’s decision continues to be under attack. Professor Michael Olivas has written the classic book on Plyler v. Doe.
The Obama administration has taken a tough stance toward Central Americans fleeing widespread violence in their native lands in recent years. In a recently released study, the Associated Press has found that in at least 35 school districts in 14 states, hundreds of unaccompanied minors from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have been discouraged from enrolling in schools or pressured into what advocates and attorneys argue are separate but unequal alternative programs — essentially an academic dead end, and one that can violate federal law, including the letter and the spirit of Plyler v. Doe.
KJ