Across Texas, kids are back in class, and it comes at a time when the debate over the nation's immigration policy is at a fever pitch, Newsradio 1200 WOAI reports.
This is the first semester since the Texas Legislature passed SB4, which is the anti-sanctuary city law. It allows police to ask a person their immigration status.
School police forces are exempt, and ACLU lawyer Edgar Saldivar sent a letter to Texas schools this week to remind them.
"There is a lot of anti-immigrant sentiment across the country, and we want school districts to understand and remind them of their legal obligation," he says.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the right of migrant kids to get an education. In Plyler v. Doe, the high court struck down both a Texas state statute denying funding for education to undocumented children and a municipal school district's attempt to charge an annual $1,000 tuition fee for each student to compensate for lost state funding.
"Even undocumented students should have an equal access to an education, and SB4 doesn’t change a thing about that," he says.
But there are reports across the state that SB4 is having an impact on migrant communities.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo took to twitter, voicing his concerns.
"It appears that school enrollment this year is lower for Latino children. Our schools are safe areas for everyone, including immigrants. Please do not steal your children's future, send them to school. Education is power," he tweeted.