Should Illegal Immigrants Have Access To Public Education?

According to Latinos Rebel, undocumented students must stay enrolled in schools to remain in the United States and to contribute as gainfully employed adults, but the schools are not necessarily invested in their success as they are forced to comply with mandates of NCLB and ESSA. The fact is that school attendance and graduation rates occur in the contexts of undocumented young people’s lives, which are fraught with multiple difficulties. Undocumented students may need additional school rates are used against schools and undocumented students lives are full of many difficulties that impact their performance. These difficulties include negotiating the world in a language other than their own, lack of support for ESL, trauma, interrupted formal schooling, legal challenges and poverty. Only 54 percent of undocumented students who arrived at age 14 or older complete high school. For those who arrived before age 14, 72 percent complete. Compare these statistics to authorized

Educating a student takes a massive amount of collaboration between schools, communities and families. It is often said that it takes a village to raise a child and this saying is truer when it is applied to a child coming to America

Due to this large population of undocumented immigrants in California and the large number of their children in the school system; it is very unlikely that their undocumented status would prevent them to get the most education benefits from the school system.

Undocumented students have a harder time trying to pursue a higher education; this is due to the fact that they cannot receive federal aid. College is like a safe haven for these undocumented students. Higher education gives undocumented students the opportunity to better themselves as individuals. Higher education also allows undocumented students to pursue a better life for themselves and for their family. Every year over 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school in the United States (Gray). Experts estimate that fewer than 6,500 of those undocumented students actually go on to attend college (Sheehy). One reason for why the amount is so low is because college is expensive for these undocumented students. Undocumented students are unable to achieve any of these goals, that is, unless they receive federal aid. It is sad to see undocumented students give up on their dream to attend college and get a higher education.

Haskins, Ron, and Marta Tienda. "Children of Illegal Immigrants Deserve Better Educational Options." The Children of Undocumented Immigrants. Ed. David Haugen and Susan Musser. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Rpt. from "The Future of Immigrant Children." The Future of Children (Spring 2011). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 11 Apr. 2014

Education is the key to individual opportunity, the strength of our economy, and the vitality of our democracy. In the 21st century, this nation cannot afford to leave anyone behind. While the academic achievement and educational attainment of Hispanic Americans has been moving in the right direction, untenable gaps still exist between Hispanic students and their counterparts in the areas of early childhood education, learning English, academic achievement, and high school and college completion.

This paper will overview several federal and state legislations in regards to an undocumented child's rights to a public education, overview controversial laws that are trying to hinder their right to education, and conclude with the implication of these political decisions on the undocumented child.

I strongly agree that a child of an illegal immigrant should be able to get an education because at the end of the day, they’re just normal kids who would love to receive an education. And their parents would love so much to see their child grow up to do to the career that they would want pursue, wouldn’t you want your child going to school to get a education if you were a illegal immigrant?

Liminal Legality: straddling between legal and illegal categories, and between inclusion and exclusion, these students' liminal status, criminalized for being undocumented, yet legitimated for their successful student

Every year, about 2.8 million students graduate from a United States high school. They have dreams of going to college or to the military to have an opportunity to make something of their lives. However, each year, there is also a group of about 65,000 students who will not have that chance to advance in their lives (CIR_DREAM paragraph 1). They are unable to do so because they were brought to the US illegally by their parents when they were children, and have the status of an illegal immigrant. Despite the fact that these individuals have lived their entire lives in the US, this immigration status hinders their ability to obtain a higher education. Although an immigrant may have been residing in the state for years, they are not allowed

Many of the undocumented students were brought to the United States at a very young age, not by their choice but of their parents. With great potential and willingness to succeed, many do not have the same opportunities as those of their peers. Millions of students have filed their deferred act in hope of getting an opportunity

The United States of America is a nation based on the idea of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness, the people from this country have an obligation to make sure that every American can experience these given rights. However by banning Mexican-American studies in Arizona, this right to express and learn about their culture is taken away. According to Kirk Semple of the New York Times, about 41 percent of all Mexicans between ages 16 and 19 [in the city] have dropped out of school. There could be a plethora of reasons why this statistic may be so high for Mexican-Americans, however, based on the statements made by students in the documentary Precious Knowledge, there

Immigration has been a part of American history ever since the United States was founded. American schools were built on the foundation of European traditions that have come to be problematic due to the increased number of immigrants from different regions of the world. There have been recent arguments over the quality of education migrants, legal and illegal, are receiving in secondary education. There are various differences amongst legal and illegal immigrants’ education in the United States that are controlled by environmental situations that alter achievement in the classroom. In this decade, what are school administrators doing in secondary education to prepare immigrants students to go to college, when these students are

The appellants stated the children of the case are not persons of the state’s jurisdiction, because they are living in the state unlawfully and should be subject to deportation. They added it would be fiscally irresponsible to educate undocumented children because it would cost the state of Texas nearly $60 million per year to educate 20,000 children of undocumented immigrants and that money could be used on “legal” residents of the state. The appellants also argued a free public education for undocumented children will encourage more undocumented immigrants to Texas. Allowing undocumented children in Texas to free public education would place burdens on the educational system, because the state would have to higher more Bilingual education teachers. They added to their case by referencing another case held previously, San Antonio ISD v. Rodriguez 411 U.S. 1 (1973). In San Antonio ISD v. Rodriguez 411 U.S. 1 (1973) “the U.S. Supreme Court held that free public education was not a ‘fundamental right’ under the U.S. Constitution” (Case Briefs). They concluded their argument, by stating if the state requires free public education for these undocumented children, it will lead to others who have entered the county illegally demanding equal access to all public benefits such as food stamps, unemployment insurance, and free college

So far, attempts to bar undocumented children from public schools have failed. In the 1982 case of Plyler v. Doe, the Supreme Court ruled on the issue. In a 5-4 decision, it overturned a Texas law that allowed schools to deny education to illegal immigrants. Martha McCarthy reports that Texas had justified its law as a means of "preserving financial resources, protecting the state from an influx of illegal immigrants, and maintaining high quality education for resident children" (128). The Court considered these issues but concluded that in the long run the costs of educating immigrant children would pale in comparison to the costs--both to the children and to society--of not educating them.