SPLC urges Department of Justice to protect immigrant students in N.C.

The SPLC and other civil rights groups that filed a federal discrimination complaint earlier this year on behalf of immigrant students denied enrollment in North Carolina schools urged the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) today to take action after the state Department of Public Instruction (DPI) inexplicably retracted guidance requiring inclusive enrollment policies.

The coalition also sent letters to school districts reminding them of their obligations under federal law to provide equal enrollment opportunities for all students.

The letter sent to the DOJ cited School Superintendent June St. Clair Atkinson’s June 4 memo to school districts that outlines various instances where schools may deny enrollment to schoolchildren. The superintendent’s memo retracted an earlier memo DPI had issued after working with the coalition. It called for nondiscriminatory enrollment opportunities for all students, including immigrant children.

“The actions taken by the Department of Public Instruction are troubling, especially given the vulnerability of many immigrant children, including unaccompanied children, in the state,” said Anjali Nair, SPLC staff attorney. “We are urging the Justice Department to take prompt action to ensure that no North Carolina school official unlawfully turns a child away at the schoolhouse door.”

The groups ask the DOJ to require North Carolina public schools to adopt, promote and enforce a policy of nondiscrimination against students.

The letter supplements the federal civil rights complaint filed in February describing discrimination at two North Carolina school districts. It outlines two incidents in which unaccompanied immigrant children – children who arrive in the United States without a parent or legal guardian and are placed in the care of a sponsor, such as a family member – were turned away from school because of their limited English proficiency, age or national origin. The complaint also notes that these incidents appear to be symptomatic of a larger problem in school districts across the state.

After the original complaint was filed, the state school superintendent sent a memo to school administrators on May 12 that reminded districts that they may not deny enrollment on the basis of a child’s English language skills, age or lack of a certified birth certificate or Social Security number. It even noted that schools “may not ask questions regarding … immigration status.”

This guidance was essentially retracted less than a month later by the superintendent’s June 4 memo.

The letters sent to school districts across the state included a copy of recent federal guidance addressing enrollment practices that deny, delay or discourage enrollment of students based on their or their parent or guardian’s actual or perceived immigration status, including that of an unaccompanied child.

More than 30 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court declared in Plyler v. Doe that it is unconstitutional to deny a child a public education based on his or her immigration status. To ensure that enrollment in public school is not chilled, federal law requires that schools requesting a Social Security number indicate that disclosing the number is voluntary; provide the statutory or other basis upon which it is seeking the number; and explain how the number will be used.

The coalition also includes Legal Services of Southern Piedmont, North Carolina Justice Center and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.