Alabama's vanishing students

by Tom Gallagher

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October 3, 2011

Hispanic Students Absent From Alabama Schools Following Controversial Immigration Law

The Huffingtonpost is reporting that Hispanic students are "vanishing into thin air" because of the harsh, new immigration law in Alabama.

There are no precise statewide numbers. But several districts with large immigrant enrollments – from small towns to large urban districts – reported a sudden exodus of children of Hispanic parents, some of whom told officials they planned to leave the state to avoid trouble with the law, which requires schools to check students' immigration status.

The anxiety has become so intense that the superintendent in one of the state's largest cities, Huntsville, went on a Spanish-language television show Thursday to try to calm widespread worries.

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