By Michael Straford ~ Politico ~June 5, 2018
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday walked back earlier comments that it’s up to individual schools to decide whether to report undocumented students, following intense criticism from Democrats and civil rights advocates.
DeVos at a hearing was pressed by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on whether teachers and principals are permitted under federal law to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about students who are undocumented. Murphy asked: “So they can’t call ICE?”
“I don’t think they can,” DeVos responded.
At another congressional hearing last month, DeVos said it was up to individual schools to decide whether to call ICE to report undocumented students.
“That’s a school decision. It’s a local community decision,” DeVos told a House committee in May, adding that “we have laws and we also are compassionate.”
Congressional Democrats and dozens of civil rights groups slammed her remarks, which they said contradicted the Supreme Court‘s 1982 ruling in Plyler v. Doe that guaranteed the rights of students to receive a public education regardless of their immigration status.
