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Civil rights lawyers are fighting back against CA schools asking for citizenship status as part of student enrollment, Entity reports.

Civil rights lawyers believe that 75 school districts in California have been deterring immigrant children from enrolling by asking about citizenship status.

Schools have asked potential new students for their Social Security numbers, birth certificates and if they are U.S. citizens. If not, some of the schools have also asked for the children’s countries of origin.

Reports showed that the “unlawful” questions were found on registration forms right on the school districts’ websites. Ironically, in most cases, the inquiries were a violation of the districts’ own policies.

California Rural Legal Assistance and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area called for an investigation on the enrollment practices, since students have “clear legal protections” to attend school.

The questions, of course, are a serious issue because they appear to impede these children’s ability to attend school. And there are “clear” constitutional protections for a students’ right to attend school that should have prevented this. Welcome to Trump’s America, I guess.

The districts’ misstep is a bigger issue now more than ever, thanks to Trump’s strong stance against immigration. Last month he rolled out his second executive order on immigration – after the first was blocked by a federal judge – requiring citizens from Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Libya to be subjected to a 90-day ban on travel to the United States.

Fortunately, some schools are actually following through with rectifying the situation, removing and/or updating registration forms asking for the information.

“Truthfully, it’s not who we are and not what we believe,” Superintendent Marcy Guthrie of the Mother Lode Union School District said. She had had no idea that her district had been asking for citizenship status, and told The Sacramento Bee, “We’ve already pulled the forms down from the website. We’re making it right.”

RELATED: Waiter Demands ‘Proof of Residency’ For Service in OC Restaurant

And state schools chief Tom Torlakson urged districts to become safe havens for immigration students, reminding them of 1984 Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe. The decision requires all schools to enroll eligible children regardless of immigration status.

The California School Boards Association also issued legal guidance back in February that districts should not ask for students’ citizenship status, or request visas, passports or social security numbers as part of enrollment.

Here’s hoping all of the schools start following their own policies, so that all children can have a chance at education. Let’s face it – with Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, and Trump’s plans to cut the Education Department’s budget and push for school choice, kids will need all the help they can get.

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