Governor Greg Abbott’s plan to kick undocumented kids out of Texas schools is brutal

All you need to know about Republicans’ supposedly deep concern for innocent lives is to read the measures proposed by Governor Greg Abbott of Texas, which would deny access to education. work of undocumented immigrant children.

The governor seems to be hoping that the Supreme Court is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade– as revealed in a leaked draft written by Justice Samuel Alito – indicates that a 6-3 conservative majority is willing to kill other precedents. In this case, Abbott wants to challenge the 1982 Supreme Court decision, Plyler v. Doethat requires schools to recognize immigrant children regardless of their legal status.

Abbott is running for his third term in an increasingly purple state. But the governor is not running to the center, he is trying to ramp up the rampage on the right. And it seems his advisers have concluded that continuing to turn immigrants by denying their children access to education is a winning electoral strategy.

It’s scary that Abbott will sink this low to get votes. It’s horrifying that it can work.

“Texas has long sued the federal government over its education costs, in a case known as Plyler v. Doe,” said Abbott on a conservative talk radio show. “And the Supreme Court has ruled against us on this issue… I think we’ll reinstate that case and challenge the issue again, because the costs are extraordinary and the timing is different than that. with when Plyler v. Doe issued decades ago. ”

The 1982 Opinion, by Justice William J. Brennan Jr. pen, repealed a law that cut state funding to school districts that admitted children who had not been “lawfully admitted to the United States” (A law that allowed schools to charge students or deny their admission to the United States). learning area.)

Justice Brennan Jr. wrote that the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection applies “to anyone” within the boundaries of a state. Brennan described “unforeseen amounts of money” due to illiteracy, and argued against punishing children for the actions of their parents. Justice Brennan said: “The law that governs misconduct by parents against their children does not follow basic notions of justice.

For his part, Abbott recently cited the “extraordinary” burden placed on Texas schools because of the large number of children who speak different languages, and “not just Spanish.” (It’s an ordinary Tower of Babel in Texas!) The governor added that educating undocumented children will soon become “unsustainable and unsustainable.” According to the governor’s office, the cost per additional student is $6,100 per year.

Perhaps Texas could find the funds elsewhere? It could start with stopping executions — which costs taxpayers $3.8 million per death penalty. The “pro-life” Abbott oversaw the executions of nearly 50 prisoners, which was more than $190 million right there. His predecessors, George W. Bush and Rick Perry, also had many expensive tabs for committing state-approved murder — but at least both adopted a “compassionate” view of the people. migrate.

Perry even signed a law giving undocumented college students access to lower tuition and state financial aid. “If you say we shouldn’t educate children who have entered our condition for no other reason than that they were sent there through no fault of their own, then I don’t think you have the heart. ,” Perry said.

“It’s clearly intended to amplify the immigrant hysteria,” Bryan Caplan, an economics professor at George Mason University, told The Daily Beast of Abbott’s proposal..

Mark Kende, professor of law and director of the Center for Constitutional Law at Drake University Law School Plyler The decision has always been vulnerable because of anti-immigrant sentiment fueled by conservative politicians. “Clearly there is an army of legislators and the public who think that so-called illegal immigrants are causing the problem,” Kende said.

He also noted that Plyler The decision outlines the public benefits of immigration. There is perhaps no better example than the fact that – immigrants, recorded or not – pay taxes. And “they are less likely to break the law or even drive recklessly,” Kende points out, because they don’t want to attract attention from the authorities. “And they do jobs that Americans don’t want to do.”

Because Plyler Kende told The Daily Beast to get exposed, a lawsuit is needed. This could be because a public school tries to charge undocumented immigrant children, or if Abbott takes an executive order to deny children admission to state schools. He hopes that the conservative 6-3 majority might not be a bad guy in this case, as Justice Neil Gorsuch has a history of leniency on immigration.

“It’s not the kids’ fault if their parents break the rules — and you don’t want a bunch of illiterate, uneducated people living in the community,” adds Kende.

It’s a sad reality that Bush and Perry can be seen as striking examples of balancing basic human compassion with conservative policies that aren’t always the warmest toward immigrants. reside. But that’s where we are – with Governor Abbott using children as pawns in the right-wing xenophobic culture war.