DEL RIO, Texas — Students living in northern Mexico have skirted residency requirements to attend U.S. public schools for generations, but when the superintendent in one Texas border town got word that about 400 school age children were crossing the international bridge each day with backpacks but no student visas, he figured he had to do something.
The community is connected by a bridge to Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, and like most border cities, the towns operate in tandem, with U.S. citizens and green-card holders living, working and shopping on both sides. All of it is legal, but public school attendance by children living in Mexico is another issue.
"We had several van loads [with Mexican license plates] pulling up at the schools and kids getting out. It's like, 'C'mon, it's obvious what's going on,'" said Kelt Cooper, superintendent of the San Felipe Del Rio Consolidated Independent School District.
He directed district officials to stake out the bridge and warn students they could face expulsion if they don't prove they live in the district - a move that's brought complaints from civil-rights groups and support from anti-illegal alien proponents.
"We have a law. We have a policy. We follow it," said Cooper, who has spent most of his life near the border and is uncomfortable with attempts to make him a cause celebre for either side of the immigration debate. "I'm just doing my job."
Like parents elsewhere who send their children to a better school across town,some parents living in northern Mexico send their children to American public schools believing they are safer and offer better education. Many also hope a U.S. education will provide better access to American colleges and universities.
Immigration status isn't an issue in these cases. A decades-old Supreme Court ruling prevents school officials from even asking about citizenship. Regardless, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, students who use the bridge enter the U.S. legally because they are U.S. citizens, permanent residents with greencards or Mexicans with student visas. Those visas are used by Mexican students who pay tuition, primarily at parochial schools.
At the start of this school year, Cooper's district asked that Border Patrol agents count students crossing the bridge one weekday. Agency spokesman Rick Pauza said 550 students crossed and about 150 of them had student visas. The rest, Cooper said, are probably attending one of his schools.
School officials staking out the bridge handed out letters that warned parents they would be required to show proof they lived in the district. Within a few days, most parents offered documentation, meaning their children won't be expelled.
Cesar Casillas, who was picking up his 9-year-old nephew at Lamar Elementary School last week, said some parents were scrambling to find apartments in Del Rio, about 130 miles west of San Antonio. He disagrees with what the district is doing.
"These kids have all the rights to an American school," said Casillas, 49, who grew up in Del Rio.
It's a common argument, though legally, it has little weight.
"Citizenship doesn't give you the right to attend school. Residency does," said Elena Castro, assistant superintendent at California's Calexico Unified School District.
David Hinojosa, an attorney for the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said he's concerned about students being singled out because they were on an international bridge before school.
Cooper, who conducted similar port-of-entry checks several years ago when he led the district in Nogales, Ariz., said no Del Rio students have been expelled so far.
Bob Dane, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said Cooper's bridge stakeout prevented parents from taking advantage of a "duty-free education."
"It's very obvious the parents are cheating the system. The kids are getting quality education without contributing," he said.
Information for this article was contributed by Alicia A. Caldwell of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 09/22/2009