It’s been just over a week since Trump’s second inauguration. In that time, TikTok went dark then came back again, Google have said they will change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America in Maps, and there is increasing uncertainty around immigration, including for students, both child and adult.
In Oklahoma, parents enrolling children in public schools will have to provide proof of their child’s US citizenship or legal migration status under new proposed legislation, according to The Guardian.
Though the new rules would not prevent students without legal status from enrolling or attending school, the districts would have to record the number of students who did not provide proof of citizenship.
‘It is to account for how many students of illegal immigrants are in our schools,’ said the Republican state superintendent, Ryan Walters.
There is an estimated 6000 children currently enrolled in Oklahoma schools, according to the Migration Policy Institute. The legislation has come under criticism from Democrats and the local community, with one parent from south Oklahoma City describing the fear he has noticed among other parents:
‘Everybody is looking over their shoulder. I’ve never seen that.’
TESOL International have also criticised the new administration, after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rescinded the status of schools as ‘sensitive and protected spaces’. TESOL claim this action ‘threatens the fundamental human right to public education, as codified through the US Supreme Court decision Pyler v Doe.’
Additionally, TESOL say further action from the administration to freeze federal funding ‘threatens critical services and support for millions of MLEs and for educators and professionals’:
The federal spending freeze, as mentioned by TESOL, was announced on Monday from the Office of Management and Budget. Research grants and exchange scholarships could be affected, and the broad nature of the directive caused confusion and concern among American universities.
According to The PIE, schemes such as the Fulbright-Hays Program, an exchange program that supports research and training efforts overseas, as well as the Foreign Language and Areas Studies Fellowships could see their funding cut under the directive.
However, as of Wednesday – just two days after the freeze was announced – the Trump administration rescinded the directive. Universities will likely be breathing a sigh of relief, but given the previous Trump administration’s track record on international students, and their current stringent crackdown on immigration, it remains to be seen what may come in place of the freeze.
