For years, children from Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, have attended schools across the border in Del Rio, Texas, but this week that changed for students who cannot prove residency.
The local school superintendent imposed new regulations to stem what he said is a long-standing problem for the district.
"I have seen van loads of kids with plates from Coahuila State (in Mexico) pulling in front of the school," San Felipe Del Rio School Superintendent Kelt Cooper told CNN. "Everyone knows what is going on. It's real blatant."
Cooper, who joined the district 11 months ago, previously was superintendent in the border town of Nogales, Arizona, where he had to deal with similar circumstances. There, he remembered, he once had 32 students with the same home address. When district officials checked, the property was a vacant lot.
In Del Rio, Cooper said he began to notice "there was some slackness in the protocol" dealing with proof of residency.
"Border towns are really unique," Cooper told CNN in a phone interview. "There is a lot of fluidity between the two cities. Having grown up in the border, I know this is very common."
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