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Why California Should Educate Illegal Immigrants Children In
Public Schools
The laws of immigration have been subjected to debates
throughout the history of America, especially in states, such as
California, which experiences high populations of immigrants. Recently,
questions have been raised by some of the citizens on whether illegal
immigrants should continue to be educated or not. This is an issue that
has raised emotional controversy. This paper argues in support of this
issue whereby the paper suggest that the US states, such as California,
should educate illegal immigrants children in public schools.
It is evident that educating immigrants who are not documented is
costly, but it should also be understood that failure to educate them is
more costly. This is because they form a group of low class people with
little or no income and this is a threat to a countrys economy. People
who oppose educating undocumented immigrants do so following
worries, such as rising of state taxes as the immigrants crowd in schools.
Crowding itself is also a worry as it is difficult to manage a crowded
class. At the end of it all, the quality of education attained is very poor
and this affects even the children who are citizens. There is also the
worry of deflecting school resources from the children who are citizens
following the social and linguistic problems that are encountered by
most newcomers. Moreover, it is feared that upon declaration of free

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education, many illegal immigrants might cross the borders in pursuit of

the same (Griffee).
It should be noted that above mentioned worries are unfounded. To
begin with, it is unlikely that parents may choose to cross the borders for
the sake of their childrens education only. There are weighty reasons to
cross the borders more than education and some of them might be in
desperate search for jobs, economic opportunities or even political
asylum. Therefore, these concerns can be addressed by application of
less drastic measures than preventing children from accessing education.
Current statistics indicate that 75% responsibility of education carried
out on undocumented children is borne by very few states, including
Florida, New York, California, and Texas. To ensure that these and other
states are not burdened, the federal government can bear the
responsibility of educating the undocumented children.
Educating the illegal immigrants children in public schools would
be in the best interest of California. Some undocumented youths were
interviewed by Gonzales (602) on the struggles they encountered when
they were growing up in the US. From this study, Gonzales concluded
that economic arguments were no excuse at all in failure to educate
undocumented children, as doing so (educating them) would be in the
best interest of the country. He further explained that even though the
undocumented students are many to demand for critical intervention by
the public policy, their numbers are not large enough to stress systems.
He added that there states that have larger populations of undocumented
students, such as Texas and California, but the cost of educating them is
less compared to how it would cost the country if these children lived
without education. He therefore argued that failure to educate illegal
immigrants would develop the growth of underclass. From Gonzales
study, it is evident that the best interest of the country would not be to

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create a subgroup of uneducated people. This is because lack of

education causes a disastrous impact to any country.
Falling to educate illegal immigrants children in public schools is
equivalent to punishing children for the sins of their fathers, which is
illegal in the US. When Justice Brennan conveyed the courts opinion,
he came up with a different argument that favored educating
undocumented children. He held that the fundamental justice
conceptions would be violated if children were to be punished for the
misconducts of their parents. However, critics believed that this was a
debatable point. They argued that parents are prone to mistakes each
new day. The decisions made by parents affect their children either
negatively or positively. For instance, if parents fail to pay taxes, their
property will ultimately be seized. The children will definitely suffer
humiliation from their parents irresponsibility. However, given that
these illegal immigrants bear children in the US, such children are
citizens of the state by birth, and they are legible to all rights of the US
citizens. Therefore, whether the parents made mistakes or not, this
should not be an excuse of preventing undocumented children from
accessing education.
Conclusion
It goes without saying that whether immigrants or not, all human
beings are entitled to education as a basic need. Therefore when the
undocumented children wants to get education, as a way to citizenship,
they should be given a chance. They should not be humiliated simply
because their parents are illegal immigrants. However, it should be
ensured that these people have an intent of becoming productive
citizens, ready to pay taxes once employed. Undocumented children
have the right to learn regardless of their place of origin. The term
immigrant is used only to refer to the low class people. After getting

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education, immigrants should still be given a better life. They should be

offered jobs regardless of their origin. They should also be offered
amnesty to be citizens with employments and who can pay taxes. These
is very essential to show them that despite their origin, they are equally
important like the other citizens.
Works Cited
Chew, Kristina. "Yes, Immigrant Children Have the Right to Go to US Public Schools."
2011. Care2.com. 17 Oct 2013 <http://www.care2.com/causes/yes-immigrantchildren-have-the-right-to-go-to-us-public-schools.html>.
Gonzalesa, Roberto. "Learning to Be Illegal:Undocumented Youth and Shifting Legal
Contexts in the Transition to Adulthood." American Sociological Review 76.4 (2011):
602619.
GRIFFEE, SUSANNAH. "Are Children of Illegal Immigrants Entitled to a Public
Education?" 2013. The New York Times Company. 17 Oct 2013
<http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/are-children-of-illegal-immigrantsentitled-to-a-public-education/?_r=0>.
Wheeler, Charles. "Analysis of Final Affidavit-of-Support Rule and Forms."
Immigrants' Rights Update 20.4 (2006): 1-28.