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Tennessee state Sen. Bo Watson wants to eject undocumented children from classrooms. But first, he needs their data. 

Under proposed in February, students statewide could be required to submit birth certificates or other sensitive documents to secure their seats 鈥� one of several state efforts this year designed to  enshrining students鈥� right to a free public education regardless of their immigration status. 

Watson, a Republican, argues undocumented students are a financial drain on Tennessee鈥檚 public schools even though state officials don鈥檛 know how many are enrolled there. He sees a way to find out. 

鈥淚f someone is not able to produce their documentation then you would make the assumption that they are here illegally and it would allow you to begin to collect some data as to the number of students in a school system that are either undocumented or are here illegally,鈥� Watson said in an interview with 麻豆精品. 鈥淪o that鈥檚 sort of a starting point for us, in terms of trying to understand what the financial cost is.鈥� 

The controversial legislation, which has drawn protests and could in federal money for Tennessee schools, has also sparked alarm among privacy advocates who warn efforts to compile data on students鈥� immigration status could be used not just to deny them an education 鈥� it could also fall into the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

As the Trump administration ramps up deportation efforts and tech billionaire Elon Musk鈥檚 Department of Government Efficiency reportedly a 鈥渕aster database鈥� of government records to zero in on migrants, civil rights advocates warn that education data about immigrant students, such as home addresses, could be weaponized. 

鈥淭hat would be an easy grab for federal officials,鈥� said Cody Venzke, a senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union focused on surveillance, privacy and technology. 鈥淪chools are a geographically based governmental service and that makes that data particularly vulnerable.鈥�

Republican lawmakers in Tennessee, Oklahoma and Idaho seek to compel educators to collect records about students鈥� immigration status that have traditionally been outside their purview. Meanwhile, reams of existing information about immigrant students 鈥� including their birth locations and how long they鈥檝e lived in the U.S. 鈥� could serve as proxies to help authorities identify and track undocumented students or those with undocumented family members, said Elizabeth Laird, the director of equity in civic technology at the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology.

For Laird, a recent executive order signed by President Donald Trump to merge federal and state data, surveillance-driven immigration enforcement efforts and irregular data collection efforts across federal agencies set off alarm bells. Laird recently published on schools鈥� legal obligations to keep sensitive student data secure. 

鈥淲hat we鈥檝e seen in the last three months is unprecedented access to and consolidation of data about people across a number of federal agencies, and that means taxpayers, it means student loan borrowers, it means Social Security recipients,鈥� Laird said. 

Immigration enforcement officials have already to deport international college students, who came to the U.S. without their parents and whose IRS returns were once considered absolutely confidential. Additional irregular data collection efforts have been carried out across federal agencies in the name of rooting out fraud and waste. 

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to go very far to see the connection between the data environment that they’ve created in the name of fraud, waste and abuse and how it relates to immigration enforcement,鈥� Laird said. As Republicans argue that immigrants are wrongly accessing benefits and causing financial turmoil in public schools, she said, 鈥淚mmigration has become a fraud, waste and abuse issue.鈥� 

Officials at the White House and Education Department didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment.

Data collection in the surveillance age

At just over 100 days into Trump鈥檚 second term, there is no evidence that K-12 students鈥� data have become a specific target for immigration enforcement, even after ICE scrapped a longstanding policy this year that restricted agents from carrying out raids at schools, churches and other 鈥渟ensitive locations.鈥� 

Watson told 麻豆精品 his legislation is about ejecting undocumented children from public schools and not about removing them from the country altogether. But a recent Center for Democracy and Technology survey suggests that educators even pre-Trump were already sharing student information with immigration enforcement officials. Some reported that their schools provided student grades, attendance and discipline information to immigration authorities last school year, the survey found, as well as information collected by digital surveillance tools on school-issued laptops. 

A recent executive order seeks to make vast data collection a lot easier. With a stated purpose of promoting government efficiency, Trump in March to eliminate 鈥渋nformation silos鈥� between federal agencies that have historically existed to prevent the government from abusing its access to Americans鈥� , including adoption records, citizenship information, IP addresses and student loan histories. 

Under the order, the Trump administration is building a database of individual people unlike anything the U.S. government has had before 鈥� and one that鈥檚 been compared to . 

鈥淢ost breathtaking,鈥� Venzke said, is the Trump administration鈥檚 efforts to gain unfettered access to information held at state agencies. Experts said the broadly defined order could apply to schools, state education agencies

The U.S. Department of Education generally doesn鈥檛 maintain large datasets of student data beyond financial aid records 鈥� which include students鈥� and family members鈥� Social Security Numbers and Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers. are used by taxpayers without Social Security numbers to pay taxes regardless of their immigration status but could be leveraged as an indicator that someone is undocumented. 

The real student data trove, however, resides at the state level. In fact, states have maintained data about foreign-born students for years and the threat of immigration enforcement is 鈥渘ot limited to undocumented students,鈥� according to the CDT white paper. in the U.S. lost their visas in the first months of the Trump administration, although it recently in the face of court challenges. 

State education data is used to populate the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 , which centralizes state-by-state information to guide policy development and includes information about students who were born outside the U.S. and have been enrolled in U.S. schools for less than three years. Though the data states provide to the federal government is aggregated, Laird warned that local education agencies could be compelled to share the underlying records that identify specific students. 

Schools also identify immigrant children and English learners in order to receive federal grants that support their learning. Additionally, under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, which requires students nationwide to take standardized tests, immigrant students who have lived in the U.S. for less than a year can opt out of the English assessments 鈥� waivers the CDT noted 鈥渃an only be provided if schools know who these students are.鈥� 

Students cautioned against speaking out

Despite the recent executive order鈥檚 stated goal of preventing fraud, Laird said the mandate mirrors , issued during Trump鈥檚 first term, which sought to consolidate data for the explicit purpose of streamlining immigration enforcement. At least 鈥� South Dakota, South Carolina, Iowa and Nebraska 鈥� agreed to share driver鈥檚 license data with the Trump administration as it sought to pinpoint the citizenship statuses of every adult residing in the U.S. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e in a time when the government is asking for things that they鈥檝e never asked for before. So I鈥檓 really not sure what might happen if the government went to a state and said, 鈥楪ive us your entire database with every piece of information about every student in public schools.鈥� 鈥�

Julia Sugarman, associate director Migration Policy Institute

Julie Sugarman, associate director for K-12 education research at the nonprofit Migration Policy Institute said educators nationwide have taken steps to ensure students鈥� records aren鈥檛 used beyond their intended purposes, including for immigration enforcement. But the Trump administration鈥檚 vast data collection efforts present an unprecedented situation.

鈥淪tates generally would have a full spreadsheet that includes identifying information, so yeah, if the government was to go to states and ask for that, that would set off huge alarm bells,鈥� Sugarman said. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e in a time when the government is asking for things that they鈥檝e never asked for before,鈥� she continued. 鈥淪o I鈥檓 really not sure what might happen if the government went to a state and said, 鈥楪ive us your entire database with every piece of information about every student in public schools.鈥� 鈥�

Digital surveillance tools being used by federal immigration officials to track down deportation targets 鈥� including social media monitoring software 鈥� have become . Digital surveillance tools, which track students鈥� online communications and web searches, could offer valuable data to immigration officials, Laird said. In some instances, students鈥� digital communications are automatically shared with local law enforcement officers who, in communities nationwide, have been increasingly . 

Social media surveillance tools used by K-12 schools and university educators have previously been . 

In the last few months, some K-12 students have already been warned to be careful about what they post on the internet as the government moved to revoked the visas of foreign-born college students for their , and . 

Martin Milne, president of the Connecticut-based Assist Scholars, said his organization has told international K-12 students that their ability to learn in the U.S. is conditional 鈥� and can be eliminated at a moment鈥檚 notice. The nonprofit scholarship organization currently helps nearly 200 international students enroll in U.S. private secondary schools.  

鈥淲e鈥檝e sent a really general reminder to students applying for visas to be particularly mindful that obtaining a student visa is really a privilege and it鈥檚 not a right and it comes with important responsibilities,鈥� Milne said, recently used by the Trump administration. 鈥淎nd that if they abide by the responsibilities that come with being a visa holder, they鈥檙e not going to draw attention to themselves.鈥� 

Tennessee wants Trump鈥檚 permission

Back in Tennessee, a Republican-led effort to collect data about undocumented students and bar their access to public schools has stalled. Despite claims that immigrant students are a drain on school resources, a state audit warned the move could cost Tennessee as much as $1.1 billion in federal education money if officials fail to comply with federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on race or national origin. 

Still, the climate caused by the legislative effort and Trump鈥檚 deportation efforts has students on edge, Kyle Carrasco, a high school government and economics teacher in Chattanooga, told 麻豆精品. Although his school doesn鈥檛 ask students about their immigration status, Carrasco said he suspects at least some are undocumented and several have already had family members taken into ICE custody. 

鈥淎t the end of the day, immigrants regardless of documentation status are paying taxes, they鈥檙e paying into the system that they 鈥� if these bills become law 鈥� will be withheld from,鈥� Carrasco said. 鈥淪o I don’t necessarily understand the reasoning and the logistics beyond why we need to be identifying and tracking these students.鈥� 

Watson, the state senator, hasn鈥檛 given up, telling 麻豆精品 he hopes his bill will resurface after local officials receive assurance they won鈥檛 be penalized by the federal government. In an April 21 letter to the U.S. Department of Education, state Fiscal Review Executive Director Bojan Savic asked if Tennessee risked losing federal money for its failure to comply with civil rights laws. 

With Trump in charge, Watson said he didn鈥檛 think the letter was necessary. 

鈥淭his bill, were it to be enacted into law, would align with the strategies that the current administration is exercising,鈥� Watson said, 鈥渁nd it would not put our federal dollars in jeopardy.鈥�

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