Oklahoma’s Education Head Seeks to Impose Rule Targeting Undocumented Students

Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters has proposed several rules for public schools that would promote a nationalist agenda, including one that would target students with undocumented immigration status, potentially violating their constitutional rights.

The proposed state Education Department rule would force schools to ask students for proof of U.S. citizenship or legal immigration status during the enrollment process. While it wouldn’t restrict undocumented students from enrolling, critics worry that the rule would discourage their parents from signing them up for school, out of fear the information could be used to punish or deport them.

Why the state Education Department would want this information remains unclear. Walters has offered vague rationales for introducing the measure, including that the policy could lead to the state ending supposed “sanctuary schools” — which aren’t a real thing, as federal policy currently deems all schools in the U.S. sensitive areas, meaning they are generally protected from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.

Notably, Walters’s proposal comes as the incoming Trump administration appears poised to rescind this policy as soon as his first day in office. Such a move would drastically expand ICE’s authority, allowing immigration agents to more frequently stop parents while they drop their kids off at school. Undoing the ban on ICE arrests in sensitive areas could also lead to undocumented students or their parents being detained after interactions with school police.

Walters has attempted to justify the proposal by claiming the data could be used to gauge “language and cultural barriers.”

“As a taxpayer in the state of Oklahoma, how many illegal immigrants are attending your schools?” Walters said, using disparaging language to describe undocumented students. “That’s data. That’s very important for budgetary decisions, and it’s also very important for us to help figure out solutions to the problem.”

The rule could run afoul of a Supreme Court precedent from 1982. In a case called Plyer v. Doe, justices affirmed that schools across the U.S. are required to serve all students — including those who are undocumented. By implementing a rule that would give undocumented or mixed-status families reason to fear enrolling their children, Walters’s proposal could violate that standard.

Walters is also proposing a series of other rules, including:

• Requiring all teachers to pass a U.S. naturalization test;
• Requiring all school districts to fly a U.S. flag on all campus properties, and limiting the restriction of flags displayed by students (an apparent response to one district’s policy discouraging flag-flying of any kind on the back of a student’s truck);
• Revising social studies standards to include studying the Bible and emphasizing the “historical impact of Christianity” on U.S. government;
• Disbanding a committee within the state Education Department that aimed to embrace and promote multiculturalism; and
• Making it more difficult for residents to request and obtain open records from the department.

Critics blasted Walters for seeking to install rules targeting immigrant students and their families.

“We want kids to get a good education, grow up and eventually be people that contribute to the economy, to the workforce and ultimately make Oklahoma a better state because that benefits everyone,” Democratic Rep. Arturo Alonso-Sandoval said in a statement. “Students not having access to education benefits no one.”

The rule focusing on students’ immigration statuses would inflict “psychological warfare” on youth, said Gloria Torres, executive director of Calle Dos Cinco, adding:

As educators, our role is to provide an education, to provide that safe learning environment. This proposed rule goes against everything that we have learned about building trust with our families, with our kids.

Karen Svoboda, executive director for Defense of Democracy, said Walters’s proposal would stigmatize undocumented students.

“I encourage all Oklahomans who support our schools, families, children and educators to speak out against this authoritarian policy,” Svoboda said.

Tamya Cox-Touré, executive director of the ACLU of Oklahoma, also condemned the policy proposals.

“These proposed new Administrative Rules by the Oklahoma State Department of Education attacking immigrant students is just the beginning of an extensive list of policies forthcoming with the intent to create confusion and fear,” Cox-Touré said. She went on:

Courts across the country have already found similar laws unconstitutional. Unfortunately, our local officials have given a clear signal of their intent to aggressively attack our civil liberties and civil rights.