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White House Looked Into Ways to Block Migrant Children From Going to School

  • Idea was ultimately abandoned amid questions over legality
  • 1982 case says can’t deny education on immigration status
A child paints a sign during a protest rally outside the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children, in Florida. 

A child paints a sign during a protest rally outside the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children, in Florida. 

Photographer: Gaston De Cardenas/AFP via Getty Images

Some top aides to President Donald Trump sought for months for a way to give states the power to block undocumented immigrant children from enrolling in public schools -- all part of the administration’s efforts to stem illegal crossings at the southern U.S. border.

Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller had been a driving force behind the effort as early as 2017, pressing cabinet officials and members of the White House Domestic Policy Council repeatedly to devise a way to limit enrollment, according to several people familiar with the matter. The push was part of a menu of ideas on immigration that could be carried out without congressional approval.