Intersect of Educational Justice
and Immigrant Rights

Much of the recent conversation about improving public education has centered on the need to better prepare our children to compete in the global economy. We believe, however, that access to high quality public education is about much more than economics - it is a question of human rights. Education is the key in developing a next generation able to think critically and participate fully in civic and political life. Those without access to education are more likely to live in poverty, and less likely to vote, run for political office, or to have any voice in our democratic process. The consequences of limited educational opportunities are significant, not only for the wellbeing of our next generation but also for the health of our democracy.

The struggle for educational justice and the struggle for immigrant rights have intersected in this country throughout the last century. Immigrant children, as well as native-born poor children and children of color, have all faced a system of educational apartheid that has denied them equal opportunity and resulted in a disenfranchisement of their democratic rights. All have been scapegoats for the failures of the public education system - for being too poor, non-citizens, non-English speakers, of the wrong race or national origin. They are labeled a drain on the educational system and that they have made it "impossible" to improve the quality of education. Immigrants in particular have been pushed to the margins through denial of education based on their immigration status and native language.

The following examples highlight the long quest for immigrant rights and racial justice in education:

• 1931 - Alvarez v. Lemon Grove School District: After Mexican-American parents in southern California challenge the education of their children schooled in a substandard barn-like structure, the U.S. Supreme Court case affirms immigrant children's right to an equal education.[i]

• 1954 - Brown v. Board of Education: In a case brought by African American parents protesting the segregated schooling of their children in Topeka, Kansas, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision outlaws racial segregation in public schools.[ii]

• 1974 - Lau v. Nichols: In response to the complaints of Chinese-American immigrants that their children were not learning when immersed in "sink or swim" all English classrooms, the San Francisco School Board insists that teaching all children in English constitutes equal treatment whether or not the children understand the language. However, the U.S. Supreme Court disagrees, saying that there is "no equality of treatment...students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education." This decision sets the stage for the right to bilingual education.[iii]

• 1982 - Plyler v. Doe: After a Texas law is passed to charge undocumented children a fee to attend public school, this U.S. Supreme Court case establishes the right of undocumented children to a free public K-12 education.[iv]

• 1997 - Three years after a complaint is filed by Padres Unidos, the Federal Office of Civil Rights finds Denver Public Schools guilty of violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against Limited English Proficient students "on the basis of national origin and disability by not providing them equal educational opportunity."[v]

• 2002 - Led by Ron Unz, the "English for the Children" ballot initiative attempts to abolish all bilingual education in the state of Colorado (in direct contradiction to the Lau v. Nichols decision), but it is defeated. Attempts like these pit immigrants against one another by falsely claiming that immersion is the only, and the best, way to learn English.

• 2006 - The Colorado legislature passes HB 1023, which denies access to state services for undocumented immigrants. This legislation formalizes a barrier to higher education for undocumented students. As a result of the passage of this bill, students who are citizens are being denied in-state tuition if their parents are undocumented. Secondly, it generated a discussion around denying citizenship to children born in Colorado to undocumented parents. A similar proposal has surfaced in the Texas legislature in the past year.

The intersection of education and immigrant rights is as relevant today as ever as the immigrant population booms across the country, and especially in Colorado. The Urban Institute estimates that 14 million immigrants entered the U.S. in the 1990's and another 14 million will enter between 2000 and 2010. Colorado was in the top 10 states with the largest immigrant population growth in the 1990's, mostly Latino. Colorado also more than doubled its number of residents with limited English proficiency in the 1990's, again the majority of them Latinos. Today one out of every 5 school-age children, K-12, or 10.5 million children, has immigrant parents, and 1.7 million immigrant children under the age of 18 are undocumented. Each year, 65,000 undocumented students graduating from high school face significant barriers to continuing on to college.[vi]

Because we believe that high quality public education is a right for all people, we must address the barriers that deny access to education based on language and immigration status, as well as those based on race and socio-economics. Doors must be opened for immigrants along three pathways:

1) Legalization/citizenship

2) High quality K-12 public education - including high quality bilingual education

3) Access to higher education

As the fastest growing segment of our population, the impact of denying immigrant students access to high quality public K-12 education and higher education is enormous. Currently, Latino students have the highest dropout and lowest college enrollment of any group in Colorado. While a few will always succeed despite the odds, if the current barriers to educational achievement remain intact a majority of our immigrant students will be relegated to life on the margins, unable to fully develop their human, economic, and political potential. What is at stake for all of us could not be more important: the future of our democratic society.

Conversely, the benefits of opening doors for immigrant students are extensive. With access to citizenship and quality education, immigrants can fully contribute to the wellbeing of the whole society by:

• Developing their full human potential
• Exercising their voice in the democratic political process
• Engaging in the civic life of their communities
• Maximizing their economic contribution

By organizing low-income, immigrant, and parents and students of color to have a real voice in policy change on the local, state, and national levels, Padres & Jovenes Unidos work to remove barriers and change the educational landscape. We move forward in our work for educational justice and immigrant student rights based on the belief that all people - regardless of race, income level, or immigration status - have a right to excellent public education and to equal participation in the democratic process.

[i] The College Board Review. Brown V. Board of Education: Fiftieth Anniversary of the Supreme Court Ruling. No. 200, Fall 2003.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Crawford, James. Bilingual Education: History, Politics, Theory and Practice, Fourth Edition, Revised and Expanded. 1999.

[iv] U.S. Supreme Court. Plyler, Superintendent, Tyler Independent School District v. Doe. 457 U.S. 202. Decided June 15, 1982.

[v] Office of Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education. Findings on Complaint 08951023-C. July 31, 1997.

[vi] The Bell Policy Center. Undocumented Immigrant Students and Access to Higher Education: An Overview of Federal and State Policy. April 2005.