成人抖阴

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Crops rotting in the field. Classrooms left half empty. State economies hemorrhaging. 

Local law enforcement under federal scrutiny. 

That鈥檚 what Texas could face if Gov. Greg Abbott, currently weathering sharp criticism for his handling of in the nation鈥檚 history and for the , continues to target the undocumented with policies and rhetoric that some say violate their constitutional rights and . 

Not only has he , leaving those young people unprotected, but on May 4, the governor said he鈥檇 like to 鈥渞evisit鈥� the 1982 Supreme Court Plyler v. Doe decision. The landmark case ruled that states cannot refuse students based upon their immigration status. 

鈥淚 think we will and challenge this issue again, because the expenses are extraordinary and the times are different than when Plyler v. Doe was issued many decades ago,鈥� Abbott said.

It鈥檚 unclear if the governor will continue to single out these children after the May 24 tragedy in Uvalde, a about 80 miles from the Mexican border where 19 fourth-graders and two teachers were gunned down in their classroom. It was a tactical team, stationed in the region, that eventually killed the 18-year-old shooter. 

Dispelling rumors that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, who also responded to the Uvalde shooting, could potentially deport grieving parents, the agency said it is in the community because it is now a protected area in the wake of the massacre.

Abbott鈥檚 office has not returned numerous calls and emails. But his anti-immigrant stance didn鈥檛 change much after the 2019 Wal-Mart shooting spree, which in El Paso, killing 23 people.  

With a Supreme Court decision that could potentially undo Roe v. Wade  鈥� its now-threatened status might have embolden Abbott on Plyler 鈥� just weeks away, some advocates worry the governor鈥檚 earlier rhetoric about undocumented students could somehow morph into reality.

鈥淲e are seeing pretty appalling attacks on children from all angles,鈥� said Michael Tafelski, senior supervising attorney for children鈥檚 rights at the Southern Poverty Law Center. 鈥淧lyler has been a Supreme Court precedent for 30-plus years. We are coming up on the anniversary in June. We hope the court still has a respect for precedent.鈥�

Using schools to capture undocumented parents

Similarly punitive measures enacted more than a decade ago in Arizona and Alabama left a costly and painful legacy. While many of those regulations have since been, : The trust between undocumented immigrants and two of the most critical institutions in their communities, law enforcement and schools, is broken. 

And the financial toll has been enormous with losses in the billions. 

Arizona signed into law some of the most draconian anti-immigration policies in the country in April 2010 through . quickly, but the controversial 鈥渟how me your papers鈥� provision : It required state law enforcement to ask people deemed 鈥渟uspicious鈥� of being undocumented to provide proof of legal immigration status during routine traffic stops. 

Research shows harsh anti-immigration practices, which often lead to racial profiling, have a 鈥� starting in the womb. A study of the infamous 2008 , raid linked the sweep to for the women caught in the roundup. 

Large scale dragnets also can cause post-traumatic stress disorder in children, especially for those whose . Researchers say some of the impact is state specific.聽

Anti-immigration measures in Arizona increased the probability of Hispanic students feeling sad and prompted them to reduce their physical activity, a 2020 

鈥淪tates don鈥檛 realize the extent of the effects of those laws,鈥� said Cesar L. Escalante, professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Georgia and an author of the Arizona study. 鈥淭hey do not intend to harm legal residents with their immigration policies, but they have unintended consequences.鈥�

Perhaps no county was more infamous for its poor treatment of Hispanic residents than Maricopa, home to Joe Arpaio, 鈥淎merica鈥檚 toughest sheriff.鈥� His armed and volunteer posse for years rounded up Hispanic-looking men and women in that often ensnared those who lived in the country legally. 

Arpaio鈥檚 law enforcement agents would target schools in communities with large immigrant populations in an effort to capture undocumented parents, a tactic that badly eroded a once strong bond: Not only did these practices discourage parents from visiting campus to advocate for their children, it sometimes made them pull their kids from class entirely. 

鈥淪chools are usually a place where families really feel safe,鈥� said Rachel Prandini, staff attorney with The Immigrant Legal Resource Center, a national advocacy organization. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to build back those relationships.鈥�

Arpaio in 2016 by the U.S. Justice Department for continuing to unlawfully target Latino drivers, ignoring an earlier court order against the practice. He was  ultimately , but no matter his personal fate, the resulting litigation and reforms cost taxpayers more than . 

Arizona lost hundreds of . Had its anti-immigration measures remained intact, the outcome might have been worse: The Center for American Progress found that if its laws made life 鈥渟o miserable for undocumented immigrants that they leave the state,鈥� it would shrink Arizona鈥檚 economy by

Sheer terror

followed Arizona in 2011 by enacting, which emptied farms of their workers, construction sites of their day laborers and classrooms of their children overnight. 

鈥淚t was sheer terror,鈥� said Isabel Rubio, former head of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama. 鈥淧eople didn鈥檛 know what to do. Our office was overrun with people waiting in every available space. This went on for weeks and weeks. The despair, angst and fear in the faces of the families we were helping was heartbreaking.鈥�

Teachers lectured to vacant chairs as schools grappled with their new role as immigration monitors, desperate to make students feel welcomed while also complying with the new regulations. 

鈥淭he absences in the schools skyrocketed,鈥� Rubio said. 鈥淐hildren literally just weren鈥檛 there.鈥�

Designed to regulate every element of an undocumented immigrant鈥檚 life, HB 56 prohibited those without papers from working, renting apartments, accessing utilities and applying for non-driver state identification cards. It criminalized the harboring or transporting of the undocumented in a provision that enraged local religious groups, including the volunteers who drove them to church, the grocery store or doctor鈥檚 appointments.

It also required schools to obtain students鈥� immigration status 鈥� and that of their parents 鈥� and required administrators to report such information to the feds to rid the state of these children as a. 

鈥淲e’re trying not to be punitive and mean, but we do want to accomplish our mission,” said Alabama House Majority Leader . “We want to discourage illegal immigrants from coming to Alabama and prevent those that are already here from putting down roots.”

Hammon was later for converting campaign contributions to personal use.

HB 56 also barred undocumented students from enrolling in or attending state college or receiving financial aid: Their status could be obtained at any time. 

Economists say it . Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah passed similar measures.

Escalante said policy makers, eager to score political points, don鈥檛 often consider the economic impact of their proposals. Or they posit outcomes that are later proven wrong: Immigration-related restrictions that took hold around the Great Recession, touted for opening up jobs for American citizens, failed to attract native-born workers, Escalante said: The .

But if politicians are ignorant of the outcome of their own schemes, their constituents are even less informed.

鈥淭he public will only form an opinion based on a political conviction,鈥� he said.

We grow up proud to be Texan

Abbott said the federal government should cover the cost of educating undocumented students. The implication, as with much of his immigration policies, is that they are a financial burden. But . 

A May found the revenue collected from the undocumented in 2018 exceeded what the state spent to serve them 鈥� including on education 鈥� resulting in a net benefit of nearly $420.9 million that year alone: For every dollar Texas spent on the undocumented, they provided $1.21 in revenue, according to The Center for the United States and Mexico at Rice University in Houston. 

No one knows for sure how many undocumented people live in America, though the estimates there were 11.4 million in 2018 with 1.94 million living in Texas. 

There were roughly in the state鈥檚 K-12 public schools in 2018-19. Texas spent $9,374 per student that year, totaling 1.5 billion for this group. 

It鈥檚 unclear whether these students are growing in number. The pandemic has had the opposite impact on schools nationwide, including those in Texas: The state served 鈥媠tudents in 2020-21, down from in 2018-19, a difference of 60,324.

An undocumented student from the Rio Grande Valley who graduated valedictorian of her high school class in 2018 and who weeks ago earned her bachelor鈥檚 degree in engineering from a state university, worries about what could happen in Texas. She called out Abbott for his lack of compassion toward students like her.

鈥淢r. Abbott does not realize that the majority of the undocumented children that already live here have no idea that they are not, in fact, citizens,鈥� said the teen, who asked not to be identifed because of her immigration status. 鈥淲e grow up being proud to be Texan, dreaming of one day supporting our family and community, only to realize later that our own state does not claim us. By ripping away the opportunity of obtaining an education, Texas will lose future trade specialists, engineers, technicians, nurses and so many more professionals that have no other alternative but to succeed. And the only way to succeed is through education.鈥�

Texas鈥檚 anti-immigration measures have also attracted federal attention. Operation Lone Star, border security initiative launched in 2021 to curb the drug trade, is under scrutiny by the after it was discovered that more than in federal COVID aid was routed to the controversial program. 

In addition to its suspect financing, Operation Lone Star has yielded : The over its validity and at least one case has been dismissed after the presiding judge found a man鈥檚 arrest :, are now up for consideration.  

Adding to the tension, Abbott is considering on the Mexican border, a move that would give him authority to use state personnel to deport immigrants, placing them at odds with

Alison Parker, managing director of the U.S. program at Human Rights Watch, a nonprofit that investigates allegations of abuse around the world, said Texas has risen to 鈥渢he top of the list鈥� of her group鈥檚 concerns. She called Abbott鈥檚 agenda 鈥渃ontrary to universal human rights that apply to all people鈥� and Texas鈥檚 immigration tactics 鈥渟hort-sighted, xenophobic and discriminatory.鈥�

Abbott鈥檚 rhetoric escalated even further as the nation seemed poised to remove a Trump-era health provision called Title 42 that has kept tens of thousands of asylum seekers south of the border for years, even as immigration regulations were just softened for Ukrainian and Russian refugees. A Trump-appointed federal judge in Louisiana from lifting the order.

Texas鈥檚 governor, who recently chided the president for while the nation faces a shortage, despite the fact that the country is , recently began

Harkening back to Alabama鈥檚 plan, Abbott last summer restricted for those who have crossed into the country illegally, directing the Texas Department of Public Safety to stop, reroute or impound any vehicle suspected of driving them. 

Earlier that year, Abbott issued for dozens of counties based on the claim that undocumented immigrants pose 鈥渁n ongoing and imminent threat” of widespread damage, injury and loss of life and property, including human trafficking, violent crime and threats to public health. Uvalde County, home of Texas’s most recent massacre, was among them.

Such declarations are typically reserved for natural disasters. The move follows his January 2020 announcement to federal authorities that the state , citing the 鈥渄isproportionate migration issues鈥� in Texas. 

But while Abbott鈥檚 tough-on-immigration stance could earn short-term gains, it could backfire politically as it did in California. Some credit harsh 1990s-era anti-immigration legislation 鈥� including denying public education to undocumented students 鈥� with motivating and and turning the once-GOP state blue. 

Even in Alabama, after tens of thousands of immigrants fled when the new laws were enacted, the Hispanic population has grown. 

鈥淓ven with the best efforts of these elected officials, folks keep on coming,鈥� said Carlos E. Alem谩n, who now runs the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama. 鈥淭here are still opportunities for them to build families here. This is a very resilient community. Despite the conditions they arrive to, they still find ways to make lives for themselves.鈥�

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