State House Democratic lawmakers announced a bill on Tuesday aimed at protecting students in schools from the impact of immigration operations in North Carolina.
Named for a landmark Supreme Court case that prohibited schools from discriminating against undocumented students, House Bill 1061: The Plyler Educational Protections Act, would bar public schools from collecting students’ immigration status information unless legally required to do so, and prevent them from denying students admission or otherwise excluding them based on their status.
Rep. Julia Greenfield (D-Mecklenburg) (Photo: ncleg.gov)“Something fundamental is being questioned: Will our schools remain places of safety, learning and belonging, or will they instead become places shadowed by fear?” asked Rep. Julia Greenfield (D-Mecklenburg), the bill’s lead sponsor, at a Tuesday morning press conference.
Greenfield said she was motivated by concern over the 27,000 students who missed school in Charlotte as large-scale immigration operations targeted the city in 2025. “These absences were not due to illness or snow day. They happened because families were too afraid to send their children to school.”
“Every child in this country, regardless of immigration status, has the right to free public education. And that right has been the law of the land for 40 years. Our legislation aims to uphold that commitment, which is being rapidly undermined by federal authorities,” she said.
H1061 would require schools to develop immigration authority action response plans among other procedures aimed at ensuring that authorities adhere to the law and that parents, staff, and students remain informed. Schools would also designate an official to ensure immigration agents have a warrant before entering school premises.
The bill would also make schools responsible for providing alternative instruction for students unable to come to school due to disruptions by immigration enforcement.
Republican legislative leaders did not immediately respond to NC Newsline’s request for comment on the proposal.
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Rep. Monika Johnson-Hostler (D-Wake), who served on the Wake County School Board for 11 years, said “students need to be able to trust the adults in their building to keep them safe.”
“Every adult in a school contributes to creating the environment where students feel seen, cared for, safe, and have the ability to learn,” she said. “Supporting them with clear guidance and training helps ensure that consistency across the board happens.”
The bill is not intended to interfere with lawful immigration operations, Greenfield said.
“We don’t want to break the law, right, and we don’t want law enforcement to not do their job,” Greenfield said. “This bill will put in stipulations that [schools] can work with ICE and with CBP if ICE and CBP follow their laws.”
School employees would be protected from retaliation for complying with the school’s action response plan. But they would be prohibited from disclosing students’ immigration status unless legally required to do so, and schools and their employees could face lawsuits for violating the bill’s protections.
A student from Northern High School condemns federal immigration raids at schools during an anti-ICE protest in Durham’s CCB Plaza on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)Rep. Marcia Morey (D-Durham) said if Republican lawmakers are serious about protecting parental rights, as they have asserted they are when passing bills restricting LGBTQ+ content in schools, they would support a bill that keeps parents informed when an immigration operation is taking place at their child’s school.
“It simply requires that every public school has a plan of response if immigration officers come on school grounds,” Morey said of H1061. “It protects student data and it removes fear.”
Joining the lawmakers were parents, students, and teachers who testified that a climate of fear has taken over many of North Carolina’s schools after deportation efforts targeting the state began last year.
Xavier Adams, a Hillsborough history teacher named North Carolina’s Beginning Teacher of the Year in 2022, said half his class was absent after the immigration crackdown began in November.
“One student asked me where all of his friends were at, and he talked about how class was boring without them there. He concluded that there was no point in him coming to school if he could not see his friends,” Adams said. “I felt sorrow for the students that just wanted to be kids at school.”
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