Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said he will stop a proposed plan to collect the immigration status of public school students.
The proposal, backed by State Superintendent Ryan Walters, would require parents or legal guardians to provide proof of U.S. citizenship or legal immigration status of their children when enrolling them in public schools, AP reports.
While the plan would not prevent students without legal status from enrolling or keep them from attending school, it would require districts to record the number of students for whom proof of citizenship was not provided and to report those numbers, excluding personally identifiable information, to the Oklahoma State Department of Education.
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The proposed rule was unanimously approved by the State Board of Education last month but requires the governor’s approval before it takes effect.
“Collecting 6, 7, 8-year-old kids’ addresses and immigration status in the state of Oklahoma, that’s not a public safety issue,” said Stitt, a Republican who says he strongly opposes illegal immigration. “Let’s go after the people that are committing crimes, and let’s not terrorize and make our kids not show up for school.”
The proposal was also met with significant opposition from educators, civil rights groups, and immigrant communities.
“The governor’s sound rejection of a radical attempt to undermine the right to education is a result of the concerted advocacy of parents, educators, and advocates across Oklahoma who mobilized to oppose it,” Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center, wrote in a statement.
During the board’s meeting last month, hundreds of students and protesters gathered outside the administration building to protest the decision.
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Stitt also this week replaced three Board of Education members who approved the rule, noting he is frustrated by the idea that children were being used as “political pawns.”
“These guys are running for their next office,” Stitt said Wednesday. “They’re playing politics, trying to get their names in the paper, and Oklahomans can see right through it.”
Walters said in a statement that he plans to place two of the removed board members on Trump’s advisory committee that will “continue to fight the liberal D.C. swamp that has now leaked into Oklahoma’s executive branch.”
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Walters said the proposed rule is needed to help schools gather information about where to place staff and applicable resources, according to AP.
“Our rule around illegal immigration accounting is simply that,” Walters said. “It is to account for how many students of illegal immigrants are in our schools.”
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Walters previously said he will support efforts by President Donald Trump to enforce immigration laws, including allowing U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement (ICE) agents into schools.
“If a law enforcement official comes in and asks for information, we’re legally required to provide that information,” he said. “If they come and ask us for certain information, we’ll happily provide that.”
On Jan. 25, ICE told Newsweek that no immigration enforcement operation had been conducted at schools or bus stops. However, on Feb. 21, U.S. Border Patrol agents boarded a charter bus transporting students from a New Mexico High School to a swim meet in Albuquerque. The agents allegedly questioned the driver, who was unable to respond in English. The agents then proceeded to board the bus, ignored attempts by coaches to explain what was happening, and demanded information from students, according to U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (D-NM).
According to the Migration Policy Institute, there are an estimated 90,000 Oklahoma residents without legal status, including approximately 6,000 children who are enrolled in schools.
