MNEA: Educators are not immigration enforcement personnel

Missouri NEA opposes the SB 590, sponsored by Sen. Will Kraus, R-Lee's Summit, which would require schools to determine whether students are legally in the United States.

From a legislative update issued Monday:

Missouri NEA opposes this unnecessary paperwork requirement on school personnel. Federal policy requires that schools serve resident students, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, so the extra paperwork will not change the district's responsibility to educate any resident student. However, the bill will change the nature of the initial contact of district staff with every enrolling student in the state to one where the district must scrutinize the child's immigration and citizenship status, not just residency status, at the time of enrollment. Educators are not immigration enforcement personnel and should not be asked to take on additional, unnecessary, immigration enforcement duties.