'Immigration Is Not Within The Jurisdiction Of This Committee': Jahana Hayes Slams House Ed Hearing

3 months ago

During a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing, Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT) questioned witnesses about immigration reform, and the importance of funds for education.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, and thank you to our witnesses for being here today.

00:05I first want to start out by saying that I came to Congress as a teacher.

00:09I taught at a public high school for 15 years.

00:13Children are not aliens, illegal or otherwise, under any circumstances.

00:18And while I recognize that border security is a top priority of the American people,

00:26my Democratic colleagues and I realize that something needs to be done on this issue.

00:32So much so, in fact, that Senate Democrats brought two border security bills negotiated

00:36in good faith with Republicans to the Senate floor, and both have failed.

00:42So we need to address this problem.

00:46My challenge is that even though I realize this is an important issue, immigration is

00:51not within the jurisdiction of this committee.

00:54So I question the intention of this hearing.

00:59Under current U.S. law, all children in the United States have the right to a public education.

01:04That's the law.

01:06In June of 1982, which was not during the Biden administration, you can check that,

01:13the Supreme Court issued a ruling in Plyler v. Doe, a 5-4 decision holding that states

01:19cannot constitutionally deny students a free public education based on their immigration status.

01:25That was the Supreme Court in 1982.

01:28So the premise of this hearing is fundamentally misguided, because undocumented children have

01:34the right to a public education in the United States of America.

01:38As a teacher, I never asked my students what their immigration status was, because it didn't matter.

01:43What mattered is that students have access to things like textbooks, computers, school

01:48resources, school lunches, all of the things that are necessary to close learning gaps.

01:54A recent study of the Annenberg Institute at Brown University found that there's an

01:58estimated 55,000 vacant full-time teaching positions in the United States.

02:04Approximately 1,200 of those vacant positions are in Connecticut during the 22-23 school year.

02:12According to Teacher Shortage Area Database at the U.S. Department of Education, 33 states

02:16and the District of Columbia reported statewide ESL teacher or specialist consultation shortages,

02:24specialists or consultant shortages in the 21-22 school year.

02:27So there is a shortage.

02:29We know that.

02:31We also know that the current presumptive Republican nominee for president has said

02:35that he would eliminate the Department of Education.

02:38So are we truly trying to address this problem?

02:42What you are describing from the panel today is not the totality of the immigrant experience.

02:47I've worked in a school.

02:49I've been in an ESL classroom.

02:51Students are not slowing down the process.

02:55Translators are not impeding learning.

02:57That is what our country is about.

02:58We hear so often people on this committee call our founding fathers.

03:02What you may not know is that John Adams proposed that English be made the official language

03:07of this country at the Continental Congress.

03:10And it was deemed, excuse me, both undemocratic and a threat to our individual liberties because

03:16we are a country of immigrants with people from all over the world.

03:19So this was the fabric of our nation and our founding fathers.

03:24And children have a right to an education.

03:27And schools, we make accommodations as schools, as teachers, you know, the IDEA, investing

03:33in things like that.

03:34But the last thing that I want to address before I turn it over and ask the one question

03:39that I'm going to ask, the last thing I want to address is that this idea that immigrant

03:45students are a hindrance on public education, I would challenge you to look across the country

03:51at your valedictorians, your salutatorians, your top ten in any high school class, and

03:57you're going to find a first-generation immigrant.

03:59You're going to find students who, as soon as they overcame the language barrier, showed

04:06that their lack of English proficiency was not a measure of intelligence.

04:10So in a country that accepts immigrant children, houses immigrant children, has migrant children

04:16waiting for their status to be reviewed, what do you propose we do with these children?

04:22Not educate them?

04:24Any of you, please.

04:31I don't think that anyone's refuting the fact that it is mandated by federal law to educate,

04:40but I think that it is an acknowledgment.

04:42There has to be an acknowledgment, particularly in the minority communities like my own Hispanic

04:47communities and black communities that are impacted the most.

04:50I worked in a Title I public school district for 15 years, so I know exactly who you're

04:55talking about.

04:57Right.

04:58So I think that that's important to recognize as well.

05:01We talk about the need for, I think the word is investing in the students and migrant children.

05:07What about investing in American children?

05:10That should be a priority.

05:12It's not one or the other is what I would encourage you to allow yourself to begin to

05:18understand.

05:19With that, I yield back.

05:20Thank you very much.

05:21Let's go to the great panel.

'Immigration Is Not Within The Jurisdiction Of This Committee': Jahana Hayes Slams House Ed Hearing

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