ABSTRACT
Undocumented children and their parents, as well as school district personnel, stand at the center of intense and ongoing efforts in both the educational and immigration law and policy arena. Two potential dangers for the undocumented student can arise in the educational setting. The first one resides in racial privacy initiatives, such as the one that was defeated in California in 2003. These initiatives prohibit states from gathering and classifying information based on race or ethnicity. Among other things, they would make scientific studies of race very difficult. The first part of this chapter examines the effect of such initiatives upon the educational opportunities of undocumented students. While these initiatives are likely to affect all minority students, they especially pose a threat to the undocumented even more, since their irregular immigration status makes them less likely to mobilize politically. This part of the chapter also builds upon the literature analyzing the constitutionality of these initiatives and explores whether they are effective policy.
