An anti-illegal immigration activist in southern California has filed a ballot initiative to ban illegal immigrants from public schools, ABC 7 reported Monday.
Joseph Turner of “American Children First” must gather 3,200 signatures in order for the initiative to appear on an election ballot in California.
“This initiative would prohibit illegal aliens from attending public schools in the Yucaipa-Calimesa school district,” Turner told ABC 7. He believes that he can garner support for his ballot initiative because the community of Yucaipa leans conservative.
Turner also told ABC 7 that 10 percent of the students in the Yucaipa-Calimesa school district are considered English-learners. In 2012, the Pew Research Center found that an estimated 13 percent of K-12 school children in California have an undocumented parent. California, virtually tied with Texas, has the second largest share of these children behind Nevada.
The Supreme Court’s Plyler v. Doe decision in 1982 held that school districts that deny enrollment to children who are in the country unlawfully are in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
But, Turner hopes that his ballot initiative will help overturn the Supreme Court’s ruling.