by Ana Maria Ruiz-Brown, Staff Writer-Translator
Beginning in August, children trying to attend schools in the El Paso, Texas, and Columbus, New Mexico, school districts will have to show a special F-1 form to Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) authorities. This visa authorizes students to study in the United States. Children trying to cross the international border without this document will be stopped and kept there until their parents pick them up. Also, in the parents' presence, INS officials will take away their official local crossing card. Without this card, children won't qualify to be admitted in the United States.
According to Daniel Kane, executive assistant of the INS, the visa F-1 will be issued only once for a one-year duration.. However, this legal reform will not be applied for students attending private schools.
The Columbus district sent letters to many parents which stated that "the tradition of many decades has been terminated; from now on, your child will not be able to study in our schools." For years, Columbus schools have received many Mexican students from Palomas, Mexico, and even arranged for school buses to pick them up at the international border.
Source: Diario de Juárez
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