Houston, Jan 29: The State Board of Education of Oklahoma has voted to advance a rule requiring parents to report immigration or citizenship status when enrolling students in public schools.
Key Points
1.
Oklahoma seeks to document number of students with undocumented parents
2.
Rule requires citizenship/immigration status reporting
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Superintendent Ryan Walters supports immigration accounting measure
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Proposed rule aligned with Trump administration policy
The rule, approved unanimously by a 6-0 vote on Tuesday, must be sanctioned by the Governor and the state legislature to take effect in the landlocked south-central US state. If given the green light, the rule would mandate each school district to document the number of students whose parent or guardian cannot provide proof of citizenship or legal immigration status "due to the lack of citizenship or legal immigration status of the student."
"Our rule around illegal immigration accounting is simply that. It is to account for how many students of illegal immigrants are in our schools," said Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, a Republican member of the board.
Dozens of students protested Walters' immigration policies in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, demanding that deportation agents be kept off school campuses, as reported by Xinhua news agency citing local media.
"All children have a constitutional right to equal access to education regardless of their citizenship or immigration status," stated the National Immigration Law Center in response to the rule change.
US President Donald Trump recently issued a directive allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to arrest individuals in schools. Walters indicated that Oklahoma plans to align with the Trump administration's initiative.
Current US law regarding immigrants in schools derives from the 1982 Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe. In a narrow 5-4 decision, the court ruled that states cannot constitutionally deny students a free public education based on their immigration status, referencing the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, according to a CNN report.
