New Orleans-area school districts, especially the Jefferson Parish School System, are seeing a sharp decline in attendance as the United States Border Patrol continues Operation Catahoula Crunch.
According to WWL-TV, 29 Jefferson Parish public schools had an average daily absentee rate of 15 percent or more last week. Those schools have heavy Hispanic populations.
One attorney says there's some good news and some bad news when it comes to schools and the Border Patrol.
"Some of it may be unwarranted fear as far as the law is concerned," WWL All Things Legal host Doug Sunseri said.
Sunseri says under federal law, schools may neither reject a student because of his immigration status nor turn in a student based on that status.
"Under the Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe, school districts have to educate children who are residents, legal or illegal, within their districts," Sunseri said. "If you bring a birth certificate that shows age, but it is from another country, they cannot use that to exclude you from enrollment."
Sunseri says those students and their parents have to prove only that they reside within the school district in which they are enrolling.
"There's a difference between residency and citizenship," Sunseri said. "You have to present documentation as to where you live."
However, Sunseri says another factor makes the fears of undocumented immigrants with school-aged children warranted. According to Sunseri, the Border Patrol could use bell times to determine when they can arrest someone they've identified as being in the country illegally.
"If they've identified someone who ICE is interested in apprehending, they would maybe look up the school records and say this is a good opportunity to apprehend them because we know they may be at the school at a certain time and a certain place when they drop off their children," Sunseri said.