Hispanic students disappear from Ala. schools
Mothers arrive to pick up their children from Flowers School in Montgomery, Ala., Friday, Sept. 30, 2011. Hispanic students have started vanishing from Alabama public schools in the wake of a court ruling that upheld the state's tough new law cracking down on illegal immigration. / AP Photo/Dave Martin
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Hispanic students have started vanishing from Alabama public schools in the wake of a court ruling that upheld the state's tough new law cracking down on illegal immigration.
Education officials say scores of immigrant families have withdrawn their children from classes or kept them home this week, afraid that sending the kids to school would draw attention from authorities.
There are no precise statewide numbers. But several districts with large immigrant enrollments — from small towns to large urban districts — reported a sudden exodus of children of Hispanic parents, some of whom told officials they planned to leave the state to avoid trouble with the law, which requires schools to check students' immigration status.
The anxiety has become so intense that the superintendent in one of the state's largest cities, Huntsville, went on a Spanish-language television show Thursday to try to calm widespread worries.
"In the case of this law, our students do not have anything to fear," Casey Wardynski said in halting Spanish. He urged families to send students to class and explained that the state is only trying to compile statistics.
Police, he insisted, were not getting involved in schools.
Victor Palafox graduated from a high school in suburban Birmingham last year and has lived in the United States without documentation since age 6, when his parents brought him and his brother here from Mexico.
"Younger students are watching their lives taken from their hands," said Palafox, whose family is staying put.
In Montgomery County, more than 200 Hispanic students were absent the morning after the judge's Wednesday ruling. A handful withdrew.
Video: Alabama enacts tough immigration law
Ala. law cracks down hard on illegal immigrants
In tiny Albertville, 35 students withdrew in one day. And about 20 students in Shelby County, in suburban Birmingham, either withdrew or told teachers they were leaving.
Local and state officials are pleading with immigrant families to keep their children enrolled. The law does not ban anyone from school, they say, and neither students nor parents will be arrested for trying to get an education.
But many Spanish-speaking families aren't waiting around to see what happens.
A school worker in Albertville — a community with a large poultry industry that employs many Hispanic workers — said Friday that many families might leave town over the weekend for other states. About 22 percent of the community's 4,200 students are Hispanic.
"I met a Hispanic mother in the hallway at our community learning center this morning, where enrollment and withdrawal happens. She looked at me with tears in her eyes. I asked, `Are you leaving?' She said `Yes,' and hugged me, crying," said the worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not an authorized spokeswoman.
In Russellville, which has one of the largest immigrant populations in the state because of its poultry plants, overall school attendance was down more than 2 percent after the ruling, and the rate was higher among Hispanic students.
There's "no firm data yet, but several students have related to their teachers that they may be moving soon," said George Harper, who works in the central office.
Schools in Baldwin County, a heavily agricultural and tourist area near the Gulf Coast, and in Decatur in the Tennessee Valley also reported sudden decreases in Hispanic attendance.
The law does not require proof of citizenship to enroll, and it does not apply to any students who were enrolled before Sept. 1. While most students are not affected, school systems are supposed to begin checking the status of first-time enrollees now.
The Obama administration filed court documents Friday announcing its plans to appeal the ruling that upheld the law.
The state has distributed to schools sample letters that can be sent to parents of new students informing them of the law's requirements for either citizenship documents or sworn statements by parents.
In an attempt to ease suspicions that the law may lead to arrests, the letter tells parents immigration information will be used only to gather statistics.
"Rest assured," the letter states, "that it will not be a problem if you are unable or unwilling to provide either of the documents."
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...And as always, anti-racist is a code word for anti-White.
Hey mister racist, larry, it has been recently proven the idea of an aryan supreme race is nonreal, as it turns out DNA evidence prooves that we all are a mix of neanderthal and humans. The only exceptions are Africans who are pure....not only that we share the same DNA, but that we inherited their immune systems as well. It's a small world and we are a species.
Hey anti-White!
No amount of pseudo-intellectualism can outweigh a moral imperative.
Anti-Racist is a code word for anti-White.
Everybody says there is this RACE problem. Everybody says this RACE problem will be solved when the third world pours into EVERY white country and ONLY into white countries.
The Netherlands and Belgium are just as crowded as Japan or Taiwan, but nobody says Japan or Taiwan will solve this RACE problem by bringing in millions of third worlders and quote assimilating unquote with them.
Everybody says the final solution to this RACE problem is for EVERY white country and ONLY white countries to "assimilate," i.e., intermarry, with all those non-whites.
What if I said there was this RACE problem and this RACE problem would be solved only if hundreds of millions of non-blacks were brought into EVERY black country and ONLY into black countries?
How long would it take anyone to realize I'm not talking about a RACE problem. I am talking about the final solution to the BLACK problem?
And how long would it take any sane black man to notice this and what kind of psycho black man wouldn't object to this?
But if I tell that obvious truth about the ongoing program of genocide against my race, the white race, Liberals and respectable conservatives agree that I am a naziwhowantstokillsixmillionjews.
They say they are anti-racist. What they are is anti-white.
Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white.
http://www.irishcentral.com/story/news/from-the-right/57-of-immigrants-in-america-are-on-public-assistance-128359273.html
http://www.newsmax.com/JamesWalsh/Illegal-Aliens-IRS-Tax/2011/09/23/id/412134
http://www.lvrj.com/news/more-illegal-immigrants-getting-emergency-treatment-at-umc-82579442.html
Any questions?
For example when they learn about how the US stole 1/2 of Mexico, and called it home....They will learn that it's called the Wars of American aggression....
I would suggest you start building that fence you've been yearning to build because the children are going to grow up and guess what?
The people here are all going to be old, dieing and gray. Yes the baby boomers will be gone, leaving the next generations in squallier.
With all the mexicans gone, the economy will sink even further and faster I might add.
I wonder how the government will get it's revenue then...
So be happy, your mexican problems are over....for now.
As a matter of fact, I believe the rich middleclass on the continent is now Mexicans in Mexico....thanks so much for the support...with all the factory orders to fill, and the Chinese have been very helpful too. Mexican factories are churning out products like gangbusters and the Mexican economy is flurishing...
And thanks to the drug addicts in the US, transportation is booming.
We have to especially thank those gun shops as well, without those purchases, the billions of dollars are flowing right out of the USA into Mexico, now that's trickle down economics.
The families are leaving, with them go the federal dollars you people don't want.
Have the bleeding heart leftwingers called the Air Force and reported this strange phenomenon
My mother was a U.S. citizen, a farm girl, one of the eldest of 17 children. Her father was one of Merrill's Marauders and her step father also served as a medic in the military and was present when train loads of bodies were found due to all the HATE, greed, and fear that someone might get something you want.
We were raised with the Golden Rule: to treat others how you want to be treated. I thank God I have both my parents to teach me kindness, compassion and generosity toward those in need. I would hope some of you can fond it in yourselves.
My parents brought us to Mexico and I saw first hand families living in abandon train cars all along the highway. In the towns they have huge sections with streets and streets of shantee houses built of cardboard and metal scraps. They are the size of our bathroom. Is it any wonder someone would try to escape that kind of poverty?
I cannot help but feel sadness for these children. It is clearly not in their best interest to be sent there especially when this is the life they know.
This is ONLY being forced on white countries in a program to demographically eliminate white people.
How does it feel to be taking part in the only socially approved genocide in modern times?
Have you heard the rumor that Anti-racism is a codeword for anti-white?
Have you heard the rumor that Anti-racism is a codeword for anti-white?
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Only from racists that claim they are victims.
Everybody says there is this RACE problem. Everybody says this RACE problem will be solved when the third world pours into EVERY white country and ONLY into white countries.
The Netherlands and Belgium are just as crowded as Japan or Taiwan, but nobody says Japan or Taiwan will solve this RACE problem by bringing in millions of third worlders and quote assimilating unquote with them.
Everybody says the final solution to this RACE problem is for EVERY white country and ONLY white countries to "assimilate," i.e., intermarry, with all those non-whites.
What if I said there was this RACE problem and this RACE problem would be solved only if hundreds of millions of non-blacks were brought into EVERY black country and ONLY into black countries?
How long would it take anyone to realize I'm not talking about a RACE problem. I am talking about the final solution to the BLACK problem?
And how long would it take any sane black man to notice this and what kind of psycho black man wouldn't object to this?
But if I tell that obvious truth about the ongoing program of genocide against my race, the white race, Liberals and respectable conservatives alike say that I am a naziwhowantstokillsixmillionjews.
They say they are anti-racist. What they are is anti-white.
Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white.
Asians, invaded several times, again by your ancestors, who also want to live a democratic life.
Mexicans, well you didn't comment, but guess what? Hispanics are America. The New England crowd took over the west, but the hispanic people are spreading quickly and will become the majority, so for this is one reason I feel the country and the constitution was betrayed. Washington is a great capital, but Wall street rules the countrys of the world.
Nobody said "invaded" but you. You are obviously missing the point.
Nobody's saying to the Asians that since your ancestors invaded China we are going to send millions of non-Asians into only Asian countries and 'assimilate' them. This is only happening in so-called White countries. Only White children are affected by this. It's genocide. Anti-racist is a code word for anti-White.