Bill looks to ban undocumented students from state classrooms
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The Tennessee State legislature recently filed in a new bill that would give schools the ability to refuse undocumented students a public school education in Tennessee.
The bill in question, which is sponsored by state representative William Lamberth and Senator Bo Watson, is charted as Bill 836 and House Bill 793, which under its proposed law would allow all public and charter-based schools throughout Tennessee to refuse any students who are undocumented as citizens of the United States.
The bill itself is expected to challenge a previous ruling made by the U.S. Supreme Court, which in the 1982 case of Plyler v. Doe, ultimately ruled that states and public school systems cannot refuse public education to any student regardless of their legal status as citizens within the U.S.
However, with the Trump Administration’s policies that allow stricter laws regarding immigration within the country and with Tennessee the bill has been filed and is ready to be taken to both the state House and Senate for consideration. If passed it would then go to the governor’s desk for his signature and then would likely be taken up by the courts as to its legality.
