For more than 40 years, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling has ensured that all children can access public education regardless of their immigration status. There are growing efforts to undo this protection, but a University of Notre Dame expert warns such a move would disrupt the U.S. workforce and undermine child welfare.
The 1982 Plyler v. Doe ruling held that a state cannot prevent children of undocumented immigrants from attending public school.
Amy Hsin, a professor of migration at Notre Dame, has contributed to a new report outlining the ruling’s benefits. She says the policy has seen a resurgence of opposition over the past three years.
Aside from the obvious benefits education has for the children, Hsin says it’s critical for society as well.
”Access to schools and classrooms provide individuals hope, children hope, that there’s this implicit social contract that if you work hard, you learn, you can advance. It is not in the interest of society to have large populations of children who not only don’t know how to read and write, but are raised in an environment without that hope, without that sense of belonging and a sense of possibility.”
Critics say it encourages illegal immigration by offering public benefits to children of immigrants but Hsin says that’s not true.
”One of the arguments that has been made is that immigrants come to the country for social services, and if you cut off education for their children, that that will lessen the pull of migration. What we know from substantial research is that that is not the case. What the main driver for migration into the United States is jobs, that there is demand for labor that cannot be filled by the native population, and also violence and political unrest in their home countries.”
In May 2022, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told a radio talk show host he thought Plyler should be challenged. In June 2024, a U.S. House of Representatives committee held a hearing on the impact of immigration on public schools.
Challenges continued last year when Oklahoma and Tennessee tried to pass legislation that would roll back universal access. Louisiana passed legislation requiring state agencies to track data on undocumented individuals receiving state services. Finally, Texas ended in-state college tuition for many undocumented high school graduates in response to a legal challenge from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Hsin says advocates of universal education access anticipate more challenges.
As a contributor to the report, Hsin provided perspective on how education primes new generations of workers to contribute to the workforce. She drew on research she conducted with a City University of New York faculty member. They’ve co-authored an upcoming book that examines how undocumented New Yorkers navigate school, work and identity.
“Schools are an important socializing institution for all children and the consequences of denying access to a large portion of the population would just lead to further exploitation and erosion of human dignity and the collapse of hope.”
NOTE: In full disclosure, the University of Notre Dame is a financial supporter of WVPE.
