Amid Immigration Debate, Settled Ground

Twenty-five years ago, the Plyler v. Doe case was first argued in Tyler, Texas. Now, amid debate about illegal immigration, some complain about undocumented Mexican men who often gather in a local parking lot for day labor.

—Jessica Rinaldi for Education Week

High court's school access ruling endures as a quiet fact of life.

By Mary Ann Zehr

Tyler, Texas

Illegal immigration is a divisive issue in this politically conservative East Texas community of 100,000, known by many locally as “The Rose Capital of America.”

Drawn by jobs in the rose fields and iron foundries, Mexican immigrants began settling here with their families in the 1970s. Hispanic children—citizens, legal residents, and illegal immigrants alike—now make up 34 percent of the 18,000-student Tyler school system.

The tensions aren’t hard to spot. Letters to the Tyler Morning Telegraph rail against undocumented immigrants. Some residents complain about the undocumented Mexican men who regularly wait in a local parking...