Parents urged to boycott schools' requests for non-white pupils to prove they're not asylum seekers

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Parents are being urged to boycott a request to disclose their children's country of birth to schools amid fears it could be used by the Home Office for immigration enforcement. The campaign comes in response to fears the information, which will go into the national pupil database, could then be accessed by immigration officials, in effect, turning school administrators “into border guards”. The letter states: “Without assurances to the contrary, our grave concern is that the new data collected will be shared with the Home Office and therefore potentially used for immigration enforcement purposes. ”Over the coming weeks we expect the organisations opposing this divisive approach to be joined by many more and for parents and schools to join the boycott and protect young people from this dangerous threat to their privacy.“ The Home Office and police already have access to information on the National Pupil Database, but campaigners warn that most parents and school staff do not know about plans for new census information on birthplace to be added to the accessible database.