On Tuesday, when President Obama traveled to El Paso, Texas, to again make the case for immigration reform, he talked about the tragedy of a policy that denies children the chance to earn a college education because of the way that their parents entered the country. But in many ways, we’ve already failed our fastest growing ethnic group, Hispanics Americans, long before they reach college and regardless of whether they were born here or not.
Hispanics now comprise 16 percent of the United States population and the Census Bureau estimates they will account for 30 percent in 2050. This obviously means the number of Hispanic students in our public schools is increasing as well. From just 2001 to 2008, the percent of Hispanics in public schools grew from 17 to 21 percent. In Texas, Hispanics already comprise a majority of public school students.
