Advocates await action on bill protecting rights of immigrant students
in Illinois
[June 21, 2025]
By Peter Hancock
SPRINGFIELD — Immigration rights advocates in Illinois are anxiously
awaiting the governor’s signature on legislation aimed at protecting
K-12 students who may be in the country without legal authorization from
being denied access to a free public education.
House Bill 3247, known as the “Safe Schools for All Act,” passed both
chambers of the General Assembly in the final days of the spring
session. It would prohibit schools from denying any child access to a
free public education based on their actual or perceived immigration
status, or that of their parents.
It would also prohibit schools from disclosing, or threatening to
disclose, information about a student’s immigration status or the status
of a person associated with the child. And it would require schools to
develop procedures for reviewing and authorizing requests from law
enforcement agents attempting to enter a school or school facility.
The bill is intended to buffer K-12 students in Illinois from efforts by
the Trump administration to launch mass deportations of noncitizens
living in the United States without legal authorization.
Speaking at a May 7 rally outside the Statehouse, where Democratic
lawmakers and immigration rights advocates protested an appearance in
Springfield that day of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, state
Sen. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago, the chief Senate sponsor of the bill,
vowed that Illinois would remain defiant of Trump’s political agenda.
“We are also going to protect our children,” she told the crowd gathered
around a statue of Abraham Lincoln. “We’re going to make them feel safe
in our schools by passing HB 3247. We are going to unite and we are
going to get that done.”
On Jan. 20, the first day of the new administration, the Department of
Homeland Security rescinded a Biden-era policy that prevented federal
agents from conducting immigration enforcement actions in certain
“sensitive” areas, including schools, churches and hospitals.
Fred Tsao, an attorney for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and
Refugee Rights, said during an interview that the policy change has had
a chilling effect on the immigrant community, making many afraid to even
show up in school.
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Immigrant rights advocates demonstrate outside the Illinois
Statehouse for legislation protecting rights of noncitizens,
including a bill meant to ensure the right of a free public K-12
education, regardless of a child’s immigration status. (Capitol News
Illinois photo by Peter Hancock)
“We have seen a decline in student participation, particularly among
heavily Latino schools after this inauguration,” he said. “So we want to
make sure that schools are prepared in the events that federal agents,
or for that matter other law enforcement, come to their door in a
nonemergency situation.”
Tsao said advocates have also been concerned about possible changes in
other legal protections for immigrant students that so far have only
been expressed in judicial opinions.
In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Texas statute that
authorized local school districts to either deny enrollment to children
who had not been “legally admitted” to the United States, or to charge
them tuition, holding the law violated the Equal Protection Clause of
the 14th amendment.
Tsao, however, said there have been attempts in other state
legislatures, including earlier this year in Tennessee, to pass
legislation that would challenge that 43-year-old ruling. And while the
effort in the Tennessee legislature fell short this year, he said
advocates in Illinois wanted to act now to make sure the rights of
immigrant students are protected in state law, should the Supreme Court
precedent ever be overturned.
“Fortunately, our counterparts in Tennessee, the immigrant advocacy
organizations and community leaders, bombarded the General Assembly with
advocacy work and were able to persuade a number of legislators to vote
against this legislation when it came down to it,” he said. “But you
know, that’s not to say that folks in Tennessee or folks in other states
won’t try again.”
As of Wednesday, June 18, HB 3247 had not yet been sent to Gov. JB
Pritzker.
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