Undocumented Students Have the Right to a Free Education. This Is Why

Since a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1982, undocumented students have had the right to a free education

Public schools cannot discriminate against nor force undocumented families to pay tuition due to a 1982 landmark U.S. Supreme Court case known as Plyler v. Doe.

In a 5-4 decision, the court held that schools are responsible for extending the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to undocumented children, and that public schools could not request citizenship documentation of students nor deprive children of an education.

“By denying these children a basic education, we deny them the ability to live within the structure of our civic institutions, and foreclose any realistic possibility that they will contribute in even the smallest way to the progress of our Nation,” wrote Justice William Joseph Brennan Jr. in the majority decision.