Undocumented Students: Part 1

SB0836 is just one of many dangerous anti-immigration bills this session that involves students.

Before the Senate Finance Committee meeting on March 12th, protestors who were largely from the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, filled the room in opposition to Senate Bill 0836, which would allow schools to refuse enrollment to students who are unlawfully present in the U.S. When asked to leave if they didn’t have a seat, protestors quietly complied.

In 1982 the Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe, ruled that states cannot deny undocumented children access to public schools.

Sen. Bo Watson seemed flustered while presenting his bill and acknowledged that discussing the issue (Immigration) wasn’t easy but he was willing to take the “insults and name calling”. Watson cited the rise in ESL (English as a Second Language) students as a fiscal concern. However, when Sen. Raumesh Akbari pointed out that documentation doesn’t indicate whether or not you’re an ESL student, Watson quickly yielded saying, “I will concede that the rise in the ESL number does not necessarily directly correlate to the number of students who are here unlawfully. However, we do not know. It may or it may not.”

The final vote was 5 Ayes and 4 Nays, which was drastically different than the 8 Republican Ayes and 1 Democratic Nay that we all expected and have grown accustom too. I think it is easy to say that the vote was influenced by the presence of The People.

After the bill passed, Chairwoman Dawn White quickly recessed the session and bolted for the exit as folks began yelling at Senators and people in the hallway chanted, “All kids deserve to learn!” For 20 minutes, the hallway echoed with emotion. As the committee room was cleared out as well, Pratik Dash, who had been leading the chants, led people in singing “This Land is Your Land”.,