Jonathan Adams

Now Teachers are the New Immigration Agents?

H/T ImmigrationProf

After scaring parents and students, alike, in Oakland after word spread of raids on schools, Mary Ann Zehr of Education Week looks at the recent Postville, Iowa raids and asks about the role that educators should play in immigration enforcement.

I was curious if there was a connection between the subpoena and the immigration raid. In other words, did any information provided by school district officials, when they complied with the subpoena, get into the hands of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents? And is this another incident where educators have been dragged into an area of federal law that is murky? What steps should school officials take in such situations to ensure that undocumented students get the free public education in this country guaranteed by the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Plyler v. Doe? (I’ve written about this issue in a Sept. 12, 2007, article for Education Week, “With Immigrants, Districts Balance Safety, Legalities.”)

Posted at 5:19 PM, May 14, 2008 in Education | Permalink | View Comments