DeLauro Applauds Obama Administration Efforts to Allow Undocumented Children to Get an Education

Press Release

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) released the following statement today applauding the updated guidance issued by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Attorney General Eric Holder. The guidance makes clear that public elementary and secondary schools cannot discriminate against minors attempting to get an education. DeLauro is the senior Democrat on the subcommittee responsible for funding the Department of Education.

"As Justice Earl Warren eloquently wrote in his opinion for Brown v. Board of Education, "it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he [or she] is denied the opportunity of an education.' Those words are as true today as they were in 1954. Public schools have an obligation to educate all children so they can one day grow up to be successful, active members of society. I applaud Secretary Duncan and Attorney General Holder for making clear what school districts can and cannot do under the law."

In 1982 the Supreme Court held in Plyler v. Doe that public schools could not deny an education to undocumented children.

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