New York Times (Editorial)
October 23, 2014
When
hundreds of unaccompanied children — part of a recent surge of
thousands of migrants stopped at the Southern border after fleeing
violence and poverty in Guatemala,
Honduras and El Salvador — were sent by federal officials to stay with
relatives or other sponsors on Long Island, many found themselves
blocked at the schoolhouse door.
The
law requires public schools to enroll all children regardless of their
immigration status. Yet guardians in Westbury, in Nassau County, told of
an impossible scramble
to meet demands for documents proving residency. Teenagers in Hempstead
who showed up for class were sent home and told there was no room for
them.
It’s
not just a Long Island problem. Federal officials have warned districts
across the country against defying a 1982 Supreme Court decision that
guarantees the right
of immigrant children to an education.
New
York State’s Education Department announced on Thursday that it was
reviewing school districts’ compliance with the law. It also has
investigators looking into the
situation in Hempstead, which this week finally admitted the Latino
newcomers but sent them to a segregated “annex” about a mile from the
high school.
On
Long Island, not-in-my-backyard resentment and bureaucratic obstruction
are getting in the way of equal treatment under the law. These schools
have an obligation to
meet, and children to teach. They have to find the money and will to do
it.
Two
Long Island congressmen, Steve Israel and Peter King, have a bill
seeking federal funds, but a Congress that has flatly rejected any
humanitarian response to the migrant
influx can’t be counted on. That leaves it to Albany and local
districts to find new funding, if necessary, to do right by these
children.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
No comments:
Post a Comment