Houston, Jan 29 The State Board of Education of Oklahoma has voted to advance a rule requiring parents to report immigration or citizenship status when enrolling students in public schools.
The rule, approved by 6-0 unanimously on Tuesday, must be approved by the Governor and the state legislature to take effect in the landlocked south-central US state.
If approved, the rule would require each school district to record the number of students whose parent or guardian cannot provide proof of citizenship or legal immigration status "due to the lack of citizenship or legal immigration status of the student."
"Our rule around illegal immigration accounting is simply that. It is to account for how many students of illegal immigrants are in our schools," said Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, a Republican member of the board.
Dozens of students protested Walters' immigration policies in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, calling for keeping deportation agents off school campuses, Xinhua news agency quoted the local media as reporting.
"All children have a constitutional right to equal access to education regardless of their citizenship or immigration status," the National Immigration Law Center said in a statement in response to the rule change.
US President Donald Trump last week issued a directive allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to arrest people in schools. Walters said Oklahoma plans to comply with the Trump administration's move.
Current US law on immigrants in schools stems from the 1982 Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe. In a 5-4 vote, the court held that states cannot constitutionally deny students a free public education because of their immigration status, citing the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, according to a CNN report.
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