An additional layer of security screening in Aurora schools has raised concerns about whether a system meant to keep kids safe may be keeping away parents and other family members who are not in the country legally.
Beginning this fall, everyone who enters a school in Aurora is being asked to present ID so staff can check names and dates of birth against a public database of registered sex offenders.
Visitors may present a state-issued ID or other documents such as a passport or consulate card from their home country, district officials say.
In a climate of fear about increased crackdowns on immigration, asking for that kind of documentation can have a chilling effect, said Corrine Rivera-Fowler, a policy and civic engagement director with Padres & Jovenes Unidos, a nonprofit advocacy group for parents.
“There is a heightened awareness that the government cannot be trusted,” she said. “Now that a parent may have to come into a school and provide the school an ID, thatap only going to heighten the anxiety. Even if they present a passport or other document, in their mind thatap an admission that they don’t have a U.S. document. You feel like you’re exposing yourself.”
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