Law & Courts News in Brief

Judge Requires Ala. Schools to Enforce Immigration Law

By Mark Walsh — October 04, 2011 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A federal judge has declined to block Alabama’s controversial new immigration rules that require schools to determine the citizenship status of students.

The ruling came in a lawsuit challenging the broad state law affecting unauthorized immigrants in employment, housing, contracts, and education.

U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Blackburn of Birmingham, Ala., granted the Obama administration’s request to block several of the law’s provisions, including one making it illegal under state law for unauthorized immigrants to apply for or solicit work.

However, she declined to block several other provisions, including the law’s Section 28, which requires public schools to “determine whether the student enrolling in public school was born outside the jurisdiction of the United States or is the child of an alien not lawfully present in the United States.”

Under that provision, students or their parents must present an original birth certificate at the time of enrollment. For those who cannot present proper documentation, schools are required to assume they are “unlawfully present” in the United States. The measure requires schools to maintain statistics about the numbers of such students.

The U.S. Department of Justice, in its motion seeking to block the Alabama law, argued that the schools provision “would have a chilling effect on school attendance by children who are aliens or whose parents are aliens.”

The department cited Plyler v. Doe, the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision that held a state may not deny access to a basic public education to any child, whether that child is present in the country legally or not. The department noted that the U.S. departments of Justice and Education had sent a “dear colleague” letter to schools earlier this year reminding them of their obligation to enroll children regardless of their citizenship or immigration status.

In her opinion in United States v. Alabama, Judge Blackburn noted that information about a parent’s immigration status is not usually included on an Alabama birth certificate, or on birth certificates from other states or countries.

“For purposes of determining the reach of [Section 28], the court assumes that school officials will not seek to determine the immigration status of parents beyond examination of the child’s birth certificate, and that such information is not included on the birth certificate,” the judge said. “Therefore, Section 28 does not compel school officials to determine the immigration status of a parent of a student.”

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the October 05, 2011 edition of Education Week as Judge Requires Ala. Schools to Enforce Immigration Law

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Student Well-Being K-12 Essentials Forum Social-Emotional Learning 2025: Examining Priorities and Practices
Join this free virtual event to learn about SEL strategies, skills, and to hear from experts on the use and expansion of SEL programs.
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
Professional Development Webinar
Inside PLCs: Proven Strategies from K-12 Leaders
Join an expert panel to explore strategies for building collaborative PLCs, overcoming common challenges, and using data effectively.
Content provided by Otus

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 Legal Fights Highlight Clashes Over Transgender Students’ Pronouns in Schools
A federal court weighs the case of a teacher who refused to use students' chosen names and pronouns, as similar questions arise elsewhere.
9 min read
John Kluge, a former Indiana teacher, pictured in an undated photo.
John M. Kluge is an Indiana teacher who was dismissed for refusing to use transgender students' chosen names and pronouns.
Courtesy of Alliance Defending Freedom
Law & Courts Can Parents Opt Kids Out of Reading LGBTQ+ Books? The Supreme Court Will Decide
The U.S. Supreme Court will take up a school district's policy of refusing to let parents opt out their children from LGBTQ+ storybooks.
3 min read
The Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon, April 19, 2023, in Washington.
A view of the Supreme Court in the afternoon on April 19, 2023, in Washington.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Law & Courts How Educators Feel About the Supreme Court's Decision to Uphold TikTok Ban
The Supreme Court upheld a law targeting TikTok, increasing the uncertainty for an app highly popular among U.S. educators and students.
6 min read
Sarah Baus, left, of Charleston, S.C., and Tiffany Cianci, who says she is a "long-form educational content creator," livestream to TikTok outside the Supreme Court, on Jan. 10, 2025, in Washington.
Sarah Baus, left, of Charleston, S.C., and Tiffany Cianci, who says she is a "long-form educational content creator," livestream to TikTok outside the Supreme Court, on Jan. 10, 2025, in Washington.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Law & Courts After 50 Years, This School District Is No Longer Segregated, Court Says
A federal appeals court panel declared that the Tucson, Ariz., district was now legally desegregated a half century after it was first sued.
3 min read
Scales of justice and Gavel on wooden table and Lawyer or Judge working with agreement in Courtroom, Justice and Law concept.
Pattanaphong Khuankaew/iStock