Speech #1030136289

I believe that we. in Congress. must be committed to the education of all of our children. For this reason. I rise in opposition to the Rohrabacher amendment. which would require the more than 14.000 school districts across the country to report the number of undocumented students in their school systems. This amendment also would prohibit funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to serve students who are not lawfully in the United States. The Rohrabacher provisions are unwise. unworkable. and unfair for a number of reasons. Keeping track of undocumented students would create a paper nightmare for school districts. The public schools in our country are not equipped to handle the enormous burden of gathering data regarding which students are not lawfully in the United States. The Rohrabacher amendment would turn local school districts into miniimmigration services. and every teacher. school principal. and school administrator would be an agent of the Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS]. These school officials would have to determine the citizenship status of every student and their parents. If the purpose of the Rohrabacher amendment is to address the problem of illegal immigration. there is no evidence that links illegal immigration to the right of public schooling. The Rohrabacher amendment simply would not work. Moreover. further inspection of the amendment raises concerns that. besides denying Federal funds for services to undocumented children. the provisions also would deny federally funded services to children who are in the United States legally. Most immigrants. whether or not they are documented. most likely will remain in the United States. The Rohrabacher amendment would create a subclass of uneducated individuals who most likely would end up on the streets. Instead of contributing to the tax base of our society. these children would only add to the longterm problems of homelessness and crime.