Why We Should Educate the Children of Illegal Immigrants

Immigration laws have been debated throughout the history of the United States, particularly in states like California and Texas, where there are many immigrant populations. Recently, some citizens have wondered whether we should continue to educate the children of illegal immigrants. Although this issue is infused with emotional controversy, we must not allow the rhetoric 'us against them' to divide the confusion in the mind. Yes, educating undocumented migrants is expensive, but not educating them would cost us much more.

The Concerns of Citizens

Those who propose to ban the children of illegal immigrants in our schools have understandable concerns.

They fear that their taxes will increase as undocumented children invade their school systems. They worry about overcrowding, given the loss of quality education related to class size. They fear that school resources will be diverted from their children because of the language and social problems faced by many newcomers. Finally, they fear that more illegal immigrants will cross our borders because of the attraction of free education.

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This last concern is probably unfounded. It is unlikely that many parents will cross borders only to educate their children. More likely, they desperately need work, economic opportunities and possibly political asylum. As Charles Wheeler of the National Immigration Law Center states, 'there is no evidence that access to federal programs attracts foreigners or that new restrictions would discourage illegal immigrants' (see 'Exploitation').

Other concerns are more legitimate, but they can be solved by less drastic measures than banning children from attending school.

At present, only a few states - California, New York, Texas, and Florida (Edmondson 1) are responsible for educating about 75 percent of undocumented children. One way to help these states and other states is to ask the federal government to cover the cost of educating undocumented children, with enough money to alleviate the overcrowded classrooms that are of concern to parents. Such a transfer of costs could have a significant advantage, because if the federal government had to pay, it could work harder to stem the tide of illegal immigrants.

A Federal Approach to Alleviate Concerns

So far, attempts to ban undocumented children in public schools have failed. Doe, in 1982, the Supreme Court ruled on the issue. In a 5-4 decision, he overturned a Texas law allowing schools to refuse education to illegal immigrants. Martha McCarthy reports that Texas had justified its law as a means to 'preserve financial resources, protect the state against the influx of illegal immigrants and maintain a high quality education for resident children' (128) . The Court examined these issues, but concluded that in the long run the costs of educating immigrant children would be insignificant in relation to the costs - both for children and for society - of non-education .

It is not difficult to determine the cost of non-education of these children. The costs for innocent children are obvious: loss of the ability to learn English, to understand American culture and history, to socialize with other children in a structured environment and to grow up to be responsible adults. who are successful.

The costs for society as a whole are also quite obvious. That's why we work so hard to promote literacy and prevent students from dropping out of school. An uneducated population is dangerous to the social fabric and contributes to social problems such as vandalism and crime, an underground economy, gang warfare, teenage pregnancy, drug addiction, and infectious and communicable diseases. The only health problem is that we deserve to educate the children of undocumented immigrants, because when they are at school, we can ensure that they are properly immunized and that we can teach them the facts about health and illness.

Do we really want thousands of uneducated children to grow up on the streets, where we have little control over them? Surely not. The appeal of the streets is already powerful enough. We can only fight this power by inviting all children to safe and rewarding schools and engaging intellectually. Our efforts will be worth the cost.