TRI In The News
Anti-RFID Student Expelled
From One News Now
Original article available here
A Texas high school student who refuses to wear an RFID tracking device has now been kicked out of school, as the deadline for her to comply has passed.
John Whitehead of The Rutherford Institute explains that John Jay High gave 13-year-old Andrea Hernandez the option to wear a badge without the electronic chip to endorse the program -- an offer Hernandez rejected. She maintains the program violates her Christian beliefs and religious freedom (see earlier story).
"She refused that, saying that she couldn't do that; that would be immoral, that she still has the same problem," the attorney details. "That's called forced speech, and the Supreme Court's been pretty clear -- you can't force people to speak in America and support government programs."
He reiterates that the Northside Independent School District's tracking program is about securing nearly $2 million in state funding.
"They want to expand the RFID (radio frequency identification device) chip program to the entire 100,000-plus students, and again, they make a lot of money off of it," Whitehead asserts. "Also, the corporations that are selling the chips make a lot of money. So what you have here is sort of a co-joining of corporate America and the schools."
The Rutherford Institute is preparing to appeal the Fifth Circuit's decision not to grant a preliminary injunction so that his client can remain in school.
