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Andrews Mother Denied Child Pickup After Showing Mexican Passport As Identification

An Andrews mother was barred from picking up her son from school. She claims it's all because she didn't have a U.S. driver's license.
By Alicia Neaves
NewsWest 9

ANDREWS - An Andrews mother was barred from picking up her son from school. She claims it's all because she didn't have a U.S. driver's license.

The mom used a Mexican passport instead but it wasn't accepted. Now, she just wants answers about a new policy put in place.

An Andrews mother is crying out for help after she says she had to call a friend to come and pick up her son for her at Clearfork Elementary. She says the reason she was turned away was because her Mexican passport was not accepted.

"I said, 'On the door, the sign that you guys have there, it does not specify that it has to be an American ID.' [The school official] said, 'Well this is our policy, and if you do not have a driver's license, you can not get your son," the Andrews mother said.

A new rule enacted September fourth requires all Andrews ISD parents to present a valid government issued ID to pick up their kids.

"[The school official] said, 'You have to have some type of U.S. government issued ID.' I said, 'Well this is a government issued ID. It's a Mexican passport,'" the Andrews mother said.

The mother, who did not wish to speak on camera, says she had to call an emergency contact so she could retrieve her son.

That got her thinking, what would happen to her child if she had no one to call?

"When we asked, 'What do you guys do with my son if I had nobody to pick him up? Would you keep him here?' And they just stood quiet," the mother said.

The mother knows others are facing this same situation, and wishes the school would re-think their new policy, or at least explain why it's in place.

"I wish that they could do equal for everybody. If you have a government issued ID, no matter where you're from, you can pick up your son, your child from school," the mother said.

The Texas Education Agency says visitor policies vary among districts and they are not the same statewide.

The Andrews ISD policy reads as follows, "The district may require a person who enters a district campus to display the person's driver's license or another form of identification containing the person's photograph issued by a governmental entity."

The mother has reached out more than once to the superintendents office but says she hasn't received a response.

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