Justice for the Florida Children of the Undocumented

By: Daniel Nardini

Lawndale News Chicago's Bilingual Newspaper - Commentary A federal court in Florida has ruled that young people, who are U.S. citizens even though they are the children of undocumented parents, cannot be forced to pay out-of-state tuition because of their parents’ legal status. The Southern Poverty Law Center had filed a lawsuit in federal court against the State of Florida for trying to make young people, who are U.S. citizens, to pay out-of-state tuition on the sole basis that their parents are undocumented. U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore ruled that what the State of Florida did was unconstitutional, and therefore the state law was null and void. When Florida passed this law, it was clearly penalizing those children born and raised in the United States whose parents are undocumented. Because of this, these young people had to pay three times the tuition compared to those young people whose parents are legally here or U.S. citizens. The lawsuit contended, and the federal court affirmed, that this is a violation of the U.S. Constitution on the basis of guilt by association—a wholly unacceptable categorization of young people.

There is no doubt that the law that was struck down was indeed blatantly racist. Although it would have hit any and all kids whose parents are undocumented, it was very clear that the law was aimed at Latinos. Latinos make up the largest single ethnic groups in Florida, and no doubt this law was aimed at them indirectly. Latino young people whose parents are undocumented would have been the largest group affected by this bigoted state law, and it was wrong for the state to say that some Americans are more equal than others. These young people cannot change the legal status of their parents, and they should not be penalized by an unjust law that would deny them a basic right of education if they have earned it. This type of law is no different than the Jim Crow laws in the U.S. southeast or the Barrio laws in the U.S. southwest that legalized discrimination solely on the basis of a persons’ skin color or ethnicity. This is why the law had to be overturned.

It is truly sad that a growing number of politicians are wasting the taxpayers’ money by making laws that are not only discriminatory but also unconstitutional. We are living in the early 21st Century; not the late 19th Century. It may have been possible back then for some people to get away with making discriminatory laws, but it will not be as easy this time to do so. This is a true victory not only for young people in Florida and Latinos, but also for the U.S. Constitution and constitutional law. There are of course many more discriminatory laws that have been passed in other states, and these have yet to be struck down. But one victory is a good start to make those politicians who make these laws realize that there is a price to be paid for it.

Comments are closed.