New Anti-Immigrant Law Focuses on School

Previously Published by New America Media; La Voz, Eduardo Bernal, Posted: Feb 28, 2010

PHOENIX–Conservative Arizona legislators want to make school districts collect data on the immigration status of students, according to a report in La Voz. The bill being discussed in the State Legislature would require the Department of Education to compile information about students enrolled in public schools who could not provide evidence of being legally in the United States.

Luis Avila, a community organizer from the group Stand for Children, told La Voz that this law will waste school resources by turning teachers and educators into immigration agents. This year legislators have proposed a number of anti-immigrant measures that don’t address the serious problems related to immigration, like human smuggling and trafficking, said Kyrsten Sinema, a Democratic state legislator.