Assignment 16 - Jordan Grady - Speech

We’ve all experienced the angst of the first day of school. Navigating new environments, encountering new people, reading about the new material we will learn in the months to come. The first day blueprints the curriculum we will discover through the guidance of our teachers. However, when imagining your first day, is the material presented that day a challenge to you? I’d bet good money that most of us in this room hold no recollection of the syllabus material we glazed over. And for us, that was okay - as the year progresses we learn and discover - however this is not the case for all. Migrant shelters across the southern border are filled with young minds being deprived of the right to education. As described by Felicia Baez, a teacher at His House Children’s Home, “It’s always like the first day of school”(Goldstein and Fernandez). Students - placed in classrooms spanning several grades, some even utilising uncertified teachers, limit the growth potential for migrant youth. Though current educational standards, overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services, are being met, the bar has been set far too low. These impressionable children, cycling through the same course material every two weeks are being deprived of the ability to learn and grow as individuals, essentially setting them up for failure. 

Students, already facing the personal challenges of adjusting to life in detention centers, have the added stressors of remaining on track with their former peers intellectually. Jennifer de Haro, an attorney for the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services describes this predicament. Having conversed with children being held under these conditions, de Haro states, “anything traumatic interferes with learning, whenever there are a lot of kids who need to be processed, or some sudden change is made...it creates an environment where things can slip through the cracks” (Ujifusa nd Mitchell) The youth in these detention centers, required a standard six-hour school session, Monday through Friday may appear to have their academic needs fulfilled, however there are a multitude of factors being unaccounted for. 

Administrative budget cuts toward the education and legal services of migrant children have been underway as detention center populations swell. As recently as June of last year, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a sector of the Department of Health and Human Services, requested for shelters to cancel English classes and many recreational activities. This was done in a frugal effort to meet the most basic of needs for the exponentially growing populations of these facilities (Romo and Rose). Despite the well-intended reallocation of funds, this lack of resources is truly concerning, further limiting the scholastic and social resources allotted to these youth. However, under the basis of the Antideficiency Act, increasing funds toward education within detention centers is regarded as an unnecessary expenditure. The Act prohibits “[funding] in excess of the amount available in the appropriation or fund unless authorized by law”(Antideficiency Act 31 U.S.C. § 1341(a)(1)(A)). Education should not be regarded as a luxury. The lack of learning resources for thousands of children under the federal government’s protection must be addressed.

As previously stated, “standard school days” consist of overcrowded classrooms, underqualified educators, and a lack of supplies. Under Supreme Court decision Plyler v. Doe, public schools are required to provide equal access to education for every student within their jurisdiction(Plyler v. Doe). Unfortunately, as procedures currently stand the federal government holds responsibility for the education of youth within these shelters, not public schools. This enables a gap to be created between the treatment of students based solely on the conditions they have been placed in, at no fault of their own. Despite this disparity, it is possible to merge this gap. It is possible to provide a beneficial learning environment within these shelters while also catering to students’ necessities that are not being met under present conditions. Greater allocation of funds toward education is plausible. Once our government recognizes education for all as a right, the educational gap can be legally addressed under the Antideficiency Act.

This country is lost. Immigration policy, hotly debated and hard to navigate, must not overlook the basic care for young children. Safe borders are not a one-way street. Detaining migrant youth and depriving them of space for intellectual growth, especially during such formative years is truly shameful. This is not a partisan issue, it’s a human rights issue. Youth - American citizens or otherwise - deserve a proper education. As populations continue to swell in migrant shelter classrooms, addressing the necessity of funding for their students cannot go ignored. Let’s break the “first day of school” cycle. Let’s grant migrant youth the opportunity for academic growth.