Doe v. Plyler

• Decision Date: 20 October 1980
• Docket Number: No. 78-3311,78-3311
• Citation: 628 F.2d 448
• Parties: J. and R. DOE, as Guardian Ad Litem for I. Doe, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. James PLYLER, Superintendent of the Tyler Independent School District and its Board of Trustees, et al., Defendants-Appellants, and State of Texas, Intervenor-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 448

628 F.2d 448

J. and R. DOE, as Guardian Ad Litem for I. Doe, et al Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. James PLYLER, Superintendent of the Tyler Independent School District and its Board of Trustees, et al Defendants-Appellants and State of Texas, Intervenor-Appellant.

No. 78-3311.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

Oct. 20, 1980.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 17, 1980.

John C. Hardy, Tyler, Tex., for Tyler.

Richard L. Arnett, Susan J. Dasher, Asst. Attys. Gen., State of Texas, Austin, Tex., for State of Texas.

Antonio Guajardo, Kelly Frels, Timothy T. Cooper, Houston, Tex., for Houston Independent School Dist., amici curiae.

Hurst Hannum, Washington, D.C., for Intern. Human Rights Law Group.

Peter D. Roos, Linda Hanten, San Francisco, Cal., Larry R. Daves, Tyler, Tex., Vilma S. Martinez, San Francisco, Cal., for Mexican-American Legal Defense.

Drews S. Days, III, Asst. Atty. Gen., Mark Gross, Brian Landsberg, Jessica Silver, Appellate Section, Civil Rights Div., U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., for amicus curiae.

Robert J. Kenney, Jr., Sara-Ann Determan, Paul S. Ryerson, Carol A. Cichowski, Washington, D.C., Antonio Guajardo, Houston, Tex., for Nat. Ed. Ass'n, et al.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Before DYER, FRANK M. JOHNSON, Jr., and POLITZ, Circuit Judges.

FRANK M. JOHNSON, Jr., Circuit Judge:

Through Section 21.031 of the Texas Education Code, the State of Texas commands the free public education of its children. The State, however, extends that command only to those children legally within its borders. ¹ Texas has declined to provide financial aid for the education of alien children who are unable to document the legality of their presence. ² The Tyler Independent School District (TISD) implemented the policy of Section 21.031 by charging a tuition of $1000 per year for each undocumented child as a prerequisite to enrollment in the Tyler public schools.

A group of undocumented children, represented by their parents, initiated the present litigation against TISD challenging the constitutionality of the statute and the TISD tuition policy. The State of Texas intervened as a party defendant. ³ The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction and ordered that the suit be maintained as a class action. ⁴ Following a trial on the merits, the district court held that Section 21.031 and the TISD tuition policy violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, Doe v. Plyler, 458 F.Supp. 569, 585 (E.D.Tex.1978), and, alternatively, that the policy and statute infringed upon an area pre-empted by federal law ⁵, id. at 592. We affirm the district court in its holding that the application of Section 21.031 to undocumented alien children is a violation of the equal protection clause. We do not agree with the conclusion of the district court that the policy and statute infringe upon an area pre-empted by federal law.

Section 21.031 was enacted as a response to the complex problems caused by the influx of illegal immigrants into the United States. The hope of obtaining jobs, coupled with the unwillingness or inability of the federal government to enforce its immigration laws, has enticed thousands of young Mexicans ⁶ to leave their native country and illegally enter the United States. It is undisputed that, compared to United States citizens as a whole, illegal aliens constitute a disadvantaged group. But bad as their living and working environment is in the United States, it is apparently better than what they would experience in Mexico; thus these aliens continue to illegally cross the border. Because they are within this country illegally, they often do not receive the benevolent protections of the law, for they know that to invoke government protection would subject them to possible identification and deportation to their native country. Hence, the rights of these illegal aliens and the corresponding responsibilities of the states toward them have not been litigated to an appreciable degree.

In Texas, as well as other border states, the illegal immigration of aliens is a hotly debated, many-faceted political and economic issue. ⁷ A large part of the controversy surrounding illegal immigrants springs from the resentment that the federal government is not enforcing its immigration laws and the fears that the aliens illegally residing in the United States will depress local labor markets or drain states' social programs. These fears, some of which are grounded in fact, serve as the basis for statutes such as Section 21.031.

Just as the illegal immigration problem is itself fraught with emotions, so too is the means Texas has chosen to deal with its illegal immigration problem. Because denying a person a basic education is tantamount to ensuring that the person remains at the lowest socio-economic level of modern society, the operation of Section 21.031 yields particularly harsh results. ⁸ Juxtaposed against the model of equality of opportunity toward which the United States government is dedicated, these harsh results give rise to strong emotional feelings. It is with this background in mind that we address the legal issues in this case.

I. PRE-EMPTION

The district court applied the tests enunciated by the Supreme Court in De Canas v. Bica, 424 U.S. 351, 96 S.Ct. 933, 47 L.Ed.2d 43 (1976), to determine whether the Texas statute impermissibly interfered with federal law and was thus pre-empted by the supremacy clause of the Constitution. ⁹ We agree that the De Canas standards govern the present case; however, in applying those standards, we reach a conclusion contrary to that of the district court.

The Supreme Court in De Canas reviewed a California statute that subjects to criminal as well as civil penalties employers who knowingly employ aliens "not entitled to lawful residence in the United States if such employment would have an adverse effect on lawful resident workers." Cal.Lab Code § 2805(a) (West Supp.1980). Recognizing that the power to regulate immigration unquestionably rests exclusively in the federal government, the Court stated that not "every state enactment which in any way deals with aliens is a regulation of immigration and thus per se pre-empted by this constitutional power. . . ." De Canas, supra, 424 U.S. at 355, 96 S.Ct. at 936. The Court therefore concluded that the California statute had not invaded the federal sphere of immigration regulation.

The Supreme Court then inquired whether the statute regulated a field that Congress alone occupies and was thus invalid under the supremacy clause. The Court observed that such a determination should be reached only if " 'the nature of the regulated subject matter permits no other conclusion, or (if) the Congress has unmistakably so ordained.' " Id. at 356, 96 S.Ct. at 937 (quoting Florida Lime & Avocado Growers v. Paul, 373 U.S. 132, 142, 83 S.Ct. 1210, 1217, 10 L.Ed.2d 248 (1963)). Examining the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 66 Stat. 163, as amended, 8 U.S.C.A. § 1101 et seq., the Court determined that the INA is mainly concerned with "the terms and conditions of admission to the country and the subsequent treatment of aliens lawfully in the country." De Canas, supra, 424 U.S. at 359, 96 S.Ct. at 938. The Court ascertained congressional concern over the employment of illegal aliens to be, at most, peripheral. On the other hand, regulation of employment falls under the traditionally broad police power of the states. Finding no clear intent of Congress to "preclude even harmonious state regulation touching on aliens in general, or the employment of illegal aliens in particular," id. at 358, 96 S.Ct. at 938, the Court ruled that California was not congressionally ousted from regulating the employment of illegal aliens.

Granting the existence of room for state regulation, the Court opined that the statute must fall if it obstructs " 'the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress . . ..' " Id. at 363, 96 S.Ct. at 940 (quoting Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U.S. 52, 67, 61 S.Ct. 399, 404, 85 L.Ed. 581 (1971); Florida Lime and Avocado Growers, supra, 373 U.S. at 141, 83 S.Ct. at 1216). The Court remanded on this issue to allow the state court to determine whether the statutory phrase "entitled to lawful residence" would be interpreted consistent with federal law.

The De Canas case clearly teaches that Section 21.031 of the Texas Education Code may be invalidated on pre-emption grounds only if, first, Congress has clearly and manifestly evidenced an intent to occupy the field of education of illegal aliens or, second, if Section 21.031 is an obstacle to the achievement of a congressional purpose. The district court did not address the former criteria, but found that the latter criteria mandated invalidation of the statute. Plaintiffs do not ask that we consider the federal occupation issue, but urge us to accept the finding of the district court that Section 21.031 is an obstacle to the achievement of federal legislative purposes and is thus pre-empted. After reviewing the relevant federal policy, we conclude that the perceived conflicts are at most illusory and that Section 21.031 does not conflict with federal policy. ¹⁰

The district court perceived a conflict to arise between the federal policy of apprehending illegal aliens at the border or at their places of employment and the state policy of treating illegal aliens as second-class citizens. But the federal government also denies illegal aliens federal largess, 7 U.S.C.A. § 2015(f) (excluding illegal aliens from participation in the food stamp program); 42 U.S.C.A. § 1382c(a)(1)(B) (excluding illegal aliens from supplemental security income for the aged, blind, and disabled); Aid to Families with Dependent Children, 45 C.F.R. § 233.50 (1979) (excluding illegal aliens); Medicaid, 45 C.F.R. § 248.50 (1976) (to...