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School Is For Everyone: Celebrating Plyler v. Doe

30 Years of Plyler v Doe graphic
30 Years of Plyler v Doe graphic
Anthony D. Romero,
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June 11, 2012

Plyler v. Doe at 30 Years - Learn More and Watch a Live Stream of the Event TODAY at 1:30 pm 禄

came to the United States when she was six years old, brought by a single mom who wanted her to go to school and have a better life than she did. Today, at age 14, Jocelyn is an honors student in Alabama, where she hopes to become the first in her family to graduate from high school, and to one day become a doctor. Jocelyn is striving to live the American Dream.

Thirty years ago, on June 15, 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court in held that the Constitution guarantees all children, regardless of immigration status, equal access to a basic public education. This week on the 老澳门开奖结果 Blog of Rights, we celebrate Plyler鈥檚 legacy in today鈥檚 struggles over access to education and immigrants鈥 rights.

At issue in Plyler was a 1975 Texas law withholding funds to educate kids who were not 鈥渓egally admitted鈥 into the United States, and allowing school districts to deny them enrollment. Some school districts took up the invitation to kick their students out of school, while others鈥攍ike the district in Tyler, Texas鈥攄ecided to charge them tuition (in Tyler鈥檚 case, a fee of $1000 per year). The fallout was immediate, as poor, Latino, and ESL students were driven from the classroom. The Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund () filed suit, and that case, which was consolidated with a similar lawsuit from Houston, ultimately went to the Supreme Court.

In a watershed decision, the Court struck down the law as violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. As the Court recognized, education was crucial to preventing a permanent underclass of undocumented immigrants in the United States and ensuring immigrants鈥 future membership in society. Citing , the Court recognized that 鈥渄enying these children a basic education鈥 would 鈥渄eny them the ability to live within the structure of our civic institutions, and foreclose any realistic possibility that they will contribute in even the smallest way to the progress of our Nation.鈥

Plyler鈥檚 importance today cannot be understated. As Linda Greenhouse in the New York Times, but for Plyler, 鈥減ublic school systems all over the country would be checking papers and tossing away their undocumented students like so much playground litter.鈥 But although Plyler remains the law on the books, Latino and immigrant children continue to face barriers to the schoolhouse door.

As documented by the 老澳门开奖结果, schools in , , , and elsewhere routinely inquire into immigration status in the school enrollment process. Alabama鈥檚 anti-immigrant law goes even further, requiring public schools to determine the immigration status of children and many parents, and authorizing schools to report them to the immigration authorities. Alabama鈥檚 law鈥攚hich, like Arizona鈥檚 infamous SB 1070, more broadly promotes rampant racial profiling of people presumed to be "foreign鈥濃攈as wreaked havoc in Latino and immigrant communities, in many cases splitting up families, like , as parents are forced to make impossible choices about whether to suffer harassment and discrimination, or leave the state they call home.

Plyler has also set the stage for today鈥檚 battles over , as immigrant youth fight to defend their ability to enroll in colleges and university; access in-state tuition and scholarships and financial aid; and secure passage of the DREAM Act鈥檚 path to citizenship for immigrants who came to the United States as children and graduate from high school.

But Plyler鈥檚 legacy extends beyond the classroom. Plyler鈥攍ike many Supreme Court decisions before it鈥攊s also crucial today for its recognition that due process and equal protection apply to everyone in America鈥攁 principle that is central to combating anti-immigrant, racial profiling laws that discriminate so brutally against Latino and immigrant communities. As we await the Supreme Court鈥檚 decision on Arizona SB 1070, we should also remember the Court鈥檚 holding, thirty years ago, that the rights of all persons, including immigrants, are protected by the Constitution.

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