Oklahoma Schools Superintendent Ryan Walters stated that his agency will assist President Donald Trump in enforcing his immigration policy “in any way that we can.”
“We’ve said our schools will not be sanctuary schools in Oklahoma,” Walters, the Republican state superintendent, told NewsNation’s Connell McShane Wednesday.
Walters backed a recent plan by the state Board of Education that would require parents to produce documentation of their child’s US citizenship or legal immigration status before enrolling them in public school.
The proposed rule would not prevent students without legal status from attending school, but it would compel districts to keep track of the number of students who did not produce evidence of citizenship and report that information to the Oklahoma State Department of Education.
“We will work with President Trump,” Walters stated. “If he needs the information, we’ll get it for him.”
Many teachers and civil liberties groups have criticized the rule, which was unanimously passed by the board on Tuesday.
Tuesday night, parents and students demonstrated outside the state’s education facility, with some parents stating that they are considering pulling their children out of school or migrating.
When asked if the policy could discourage youngsters from attending school for fear of disclosing their immigration status, Walters stated that it is about keeping families together.
“If the president and ICE don’t know where the families are, where the students are, you’re going to have families that are deported without their kids,” Walters went on.
He said, “This is what the American people have requested. President Trump is keeping a promise.
Before becoming official, the rule must be approved by both the state Legislature and the governor.
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