Law & Courts News in Brief

Civil Rights Group Warns States About Barring Immigrant Students

By Corey Mitchell — November 14, 2017 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A Washington-based civil rights group has issued a stern reminder to attorneys general in all 50 states and the District of Columbia that all students, regardless of their immigration status, can enroll in K-12 public schools.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law sent the letters late last month as part of an initiative that aims to protect the rights of students, regardless of their immigration status or that of their parents or guardians. The letters urge the attorneys general to enforce their “responsibilities under the law and provide clear, written guidance to the educators of their states on their constitutional obligations” amid the Trump administration’s ramped-up immigration enforcement.

The 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision Plyler v. Doe makes clear that schools and districts cannot adopt enrollment policies that deny or discourage children from enrolling because of immigration status.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the November 15, 2017 edition of Education Week as Civil Rights Group Warns States About Barring Immigrant Students

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Classroom Technology Webinar
How to Leverage Virtual Learning: Preparing Students for the Future
Hear from an expert panel how best to leverage virtual learning in your district to achieve your goals.
Content provided by Class
English-Language Learners Webinar AI and English Learners: What Teachers Need to Know
Explore the role of AI in multilingual education and its potential limitations.
Education Webinar The K-12 Leader: Data and Insights Every Marketer Needs to Know
Which topics are capturing the attention of district and school leaders? Discover how to align your content with the topics your target audience cares about most. 

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Law & Courts Court Upholds School Resource Officer's Use of a Taser on a Student With a Disability
A federal appeals panel upheld qualified immunity for the SRO and rejected the student's disability-discrimination and civil rights claims.
5 min read
Photo of officer with taser in holster.
iStock / Getty Images Plus
Law & Courts California Sues to Stop District From Disclosing Trans Students' Name Changes or Pronouns
The lawsuit challenges the Chino Valley district's policy requiring schools to notify parents about requests for gender changes.
5 min read
California Attorney General Rob Bonta fields questions during a press conference on Aug. 28, 2023, in Los Angeles. California's attorney general sued a Southern California school district Monday over its recently adopted policy that requires schools to notify parents if their children change their gender identification or pronouns.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta answers questions from the media on Aug. 28, 2023, in Los Angeles. Bonta is suing the Chino Valley Unified school district over a policy that requires schools to notify parents if their children change their gender identification or pronouns.
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
Law & Courts What Trump's Prosecution in Georgia Has in Common With the Atlanta Schools Cheating Case
The DA in the Georgia election interference case against Trump was a lead prosecutor in the school cheating scandal.
7 min read
Fulton County Chief Senior Assistant District Attorney Fani Willis takes notes while questioning University of Michigan professor Brian Jacob, a statistical analysis expert, as he testifies in a case against a group of Atlanta public school educators accused in a scheme to inflate students’ standardized test scores in Fulton County Superior Court, Ga., Feb. 10, 2015. Willis' most prominent case as an assistant district attorney was a RICO prosecution against the group of educators. After a seven-month trial, a jury in April 2015 convicted 11 of them on the racketeering charge.
Then-Fulton County chief senior assistant district attorney Fani Willis taking notes as a witness testified in a case against a group of Atlanta public school educators accused in a scheme to inflate students’ standardized test scores in Fulton County Superior Court, Ga., Feb. 10, 2015.
Kent D. Johnson/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP
Law & Courts Lawsuit Spotlights California’s Restrictions on Researchers’ Use of Its Education Data
A California lawsuit has raised questions about researchers' access to education data.
6 min read
Large magnifying glass with a diverse group of figures circled around it on laptops analyzing data
iStock/Getty