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Williams: Trump Continues Anti-Immigrant Assault By Targeting the Education Department鈥檚 Office Serving English Learners

President Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a campaign rally on May 10, 2018, in Elkhart, Indiana. (Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

There鈥檚 a in D.C. 鈥 especially for , but also for a certain stripe of leftist 鈥 to declare that all the public hand-wringing about President Trump is overwrought.

Yes, they say, this Stormy Daniels thing is a bit outside the usual bounds for presidential politics, and yes, intemperate tweeting is an odd way to conduct sensitive foreign policy discussions, but check the tape and you鈥檒l see that Trump hasn鈥檛 actually than most any other Republican president would have. Tax reform with benefits tilted towards the wealthiest corporations and individuals? Sure, sounds like President Romney. A shiny new Supreme Court justice with hyper-originalist views of the U.S. Constitution? Yeah, that鈥檚 right up President Jeb鈥檚 alley.

But this line of thinking utterly collapses on immigration policy. The Trump administration鈥檚 well-publicized crusade against Dreamers 鈥 undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children by their families 鈥 has dominated headlines, but it鈥檚 only one of a host of attacks the administration has leveled against U.S. immigrant communities by upending the policies that shape their lives.

A making it harder for legal immigrants to establish U.S. residency . The Trump administration has been tens of thousands of immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Sudan, and elsewhere by winding down the program that grants them legal status in the U.S. Most recently, it has also begun , ostensibly to deter them from seeking refuge in the United States 鈥 presumably if America treats asylum seekers badly enough, they鈥檒l choose to risk persecution and violence they would otherwise flee.

This isn鈥檛 just horrific. It isn鈥檛 just hard-hearted. It isn鈥檛 just . It鈥檚 a comprehensive effort to make the United States less diverse in the short and long run. It鈥檚 the nuts and bolts payout of candidate Trump鈥檚 ethno-nationalist campaign rhetoric.

These moves have rocked schools across the country. Teachers in student anxiety and behavior. But the Trump administration鈥檚 campaign against American pluralism isn鈥檛 just impacting the public education system 鈥 it includes education-specific policy reforms. Late last week, out details of the administration鈥檚 plans for eliminating the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 Office of English Language Acquisition. Remaining staff and programs would be built into the department鈥檚 Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, in an effort 鈥渢o merge English-learner support with services provided to other disadvantaged student groups.鈥

The Office of English Language Acquisition by 鈥 I suppose it bears noting 鈥 Republican President George W. Bush, under the terms of his signature education legislation, No Child Left Behind. It manages in grant programs that help train educators to better support English-learner students.

Its elimination wouldn鈥檛 rise anywhere near the gravity of the administration鈥檚 other immigration-related changes. It wouldn鈥檛 directly threaten the lives or safety of children in the United States. But it would be further evidence that the administration鈥檚 assault on American multiculturalism extends to multilingualism 鈥 indeed, it extends to .

It鈥檚 also evidence that Trump administration rhetoric about empowering schools and supporting all students鈥 needs is, frankly, hollow. of American students are officially classified as English learners, and over 20 percent of American kids speak a non-English language at home 鈥 .

As the founder of New America鈥檚 Dual Language Learners National Work Group, I鈥檝e visited of linguistically diverse over several . Unfortunately, educators鈥 expertise about how to serve English learners hasn鈥檛 kept pace with the growth in this student population. Schools need 鈥 and these students deserve 鈥 dedicated federal support and attention.

In theory, the U.S. Department of Education could continue providing resources and strong leadership to English learners while folding the Office of English Language Acquisition into larger student support teams . A separate office dedicated to their needs isn鈥檛 necessarily a guarantee of effectiveness. Why not integrate English-learner support services into other targeted efforts to support educational equity?

Trouble is, English learners鈥 needs aren鈥檛 the same as those of 鈥渙ther disadvantaged student groups.鈥 Linguistically diverse kids need specific supports, and they deserve an office dedicated to helping schools deliver them. Move responsibility for their growth into a more generic part of the federal education bureaucracy, and are likely to be lost in the shuffle. In too many schools in too many communities, English learners have frequently been treated as though is somehow a threat to their academic development.

Of course, the reorganization would be perfectly coincident with the Trump administration鈥檚 , which treats and multiculturalism as to its project to make the country 鈥済reat.鈥 Is that governing as a 鈥渘ormal鈥 Republican in 2018? , it appears so.

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