Texas Governor Greg Abbott Challenges Education Of Migrant Children: Says They Create Challenges To School System

Greg Abbott
Greg Abbott

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has stated that he is considering challenging the 1982 ruling of the Supreme Court that guarantees public education for all children. His tirade against migrants has infuriated immigration advocates and educators and smacked of prejudiced overtones.

He appeared to be encouraged by the willingness of the Supreme Court to reverse years old precedence like the Roe v. Wade ruling on the right to abortion. Greg Abbott’s pet peeve appears to be his opposition to the decision by the court to obligate public educational institutions to educate children irrespective of their residential status, even undocumented immigrants.

Greg Abbott’s bigoted comments have opened up a fresh debate about his willingness to leverage his position to go after migrants. His opinions also demonstrated the extent to which conservatives are willing to bring regressive changes to American life, emboldened by the court conservative majority in the court and their willingness to go to an unprecedented extent.

Greg Abbott Says Inclusion Of Children Speaking Various Languages Was Unaffordable And Unsustainable

There have not been any changes since the decision in 1982 to allow admission to the children of unauthorized migrants. Several attempts to challenge Plyler v. Doe were futile, including an attempt by the state of Alabama and again in the 90s by California.

Preston Huennekens of the Federation for American Immigration Reform says that Greg Abbott’s challenge to the ruling was the first that has happened in decades.

The main thing going for Greg Abbott is the change in the political configuration of the Supreme Court. The Governor believes that the arrival of migrants has placed an unparalleled burden on schools in Texas. He mentioned that most speak languages other than English and said educating such undocumented children was unaffordable and unsustainable. 

This would be especially true, he said, when the federal administration changed its policy of stopping migrants at the southern border on health grounds, referred to as Title 42.