If you’re compiling the top 1000 reasons for the slumping U.S. economy, then you can safely leave ‘illegal immigration’ off the list. Why, then, is it suddenly acceptable again to target this population for discrimination, intimidation and repudiation? In Alabama, immigrant children are now being targeted by overzealous lawmakers.
Legislation there, recently upheld by courts requires school officials to collect ‘citizenship data’ on all students. The effect, clearly intended, is that parents are pulling their kids out of school. In some cases, these families are relocating to friendlier states, but many of these students will simply be kept home.
In Germany, my temporary home of the last few years, the pendulum is thankfully swinging the other way, with the Bundestag repealing a similar requirement just months ago. Why? The German government has recognized that education is a fundamental human right, and that threatening children is a headlong leap down the slippery slope that need not even be named.
So, Alabama, I know ‘we dare defend our rights’ is just a sorry ass reference to the civil war and slavery, but here’s a right worth standing up for, educating kids, regardless of how they came to live in Alabama.