PORTLAND, Maine — A judge on Friday ruled a high school student in Maine who fled his native Zambia can compete in a government-funded national poetry contest.
Federal Judge John Woodcock overturned the National Endowment for the Arts’ decision to bar the 11th-grader on the grounds that he doesn’t meet their U.S. citizenship rules.
Allan Monga, a 19-year-old junior at Deering High School, won Maine’s “Poetry Out Loud” contest but initially wasn’t allowed to compete nationally because he hasn’t yet been granted legal asylum. He and the Portland school district sued the NEA to let him participate in the finals, which start Monday in Washington.
Portland Public Schools Superintendent Xavier Botana said the school community is “ecstatic” that Monga is heading to the finals. The teen fled to the U.S. last year and has distinguished himself as a poet this school year through his school’s English curriculum. Out of 9,500 students from across Maine, he won the March state finals with the poem “In the Desert,” by Stephen Crane.
“It feels great to know that Allan is going to have the opportunity to show the world how amazing he is,” Botana said. “And it feels great to know that justice is being served.”
Efforts to reach Monga or the NEA were unsuccessful Friday.
“Right now he really wants to concentrate on poetry and make us all proud,” said attorney Melissa Hewey, who represents Monga and called him with the news. “He was speechless at first and then just really excited. He just said he was really determined to make it all worthwhile for all us.”
NEA lawyers cited a contest rule requiring competitors at state and national finals to be U.S. citizens or permanent residents with a valid tax identification or Social Security number, which are needed to receive prizes. A total of $50,000 in awards and school stipends are given at the national finals, including $20,000 for the national champion.
Monga’s lawyers argued that NEA’s eligibility rule discriminates against asylum-seekers and violates civil rights laws. They said it takes away his right to an education — and specifically a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity — that should be open to anyone in the country.
The judge granted a temporary restraining order against the NEA to allow Monga to attend, agreeing that Monga would miss a “unique, fleeting, one-time opportunity.”
The NEA also argued that letting Monga compete would undercut the integrity of the national finals.
But the judge wrote: “It is difficult to understand how.”
“Mr. Monga is the Poetry OutLoud Maine state champion,” he said. “Allowing him to compete with champions from other states and to be fairly judged on the merit of his performance would not appear to undermine the integrity of the competition.”
Woodcock said the core issue is public education and whether Monga is being denied it because of a characteristic he has no control over.
“Although the NEA eligibility classification touches on alienage, the core activity — a poetry reading competition — has nothing to do with federal control of immigration,” he wrote. “Instead, the poetry reading competition involves education.”
Maine Democratic U.S. Rep Chellie Pingree, who co-leads the Congressional Arts Caucus, had urged the NEA to reconsider its decision to exclude Monga on the basis of his immigration status.
The NEA lawyers noted when Monga was preparing to compete in the state finals in Maine, the Maine Arts Commission contacted the NEA and was told he wasn’t eligible to compete but chose to ignore it.
Despite his having a Social Security number, the NEA maintained that Monga was ineligible because he’s not a citizen or permanent resident. It asserted Monga’s lawyers incorrectly equated the status of people who have applied for asylum with those who are legal permanent residents.
The NEA also argued that allowing him to compete wouldn’t be fair to students across the country whose immigration status did not qualify them to compete in their state’s competition.
But the judge called that argument “speculation.”
Woodcock also dampened any expectations that this ruling would necessarily impact future students.
“In short, the court’s ruling in favor of Mr. Monga is not a harbinger of rulings to come, one way or the other,” he wrote.
And it doesn’t impact the NEA’s rule regarding the matter.”We hope that the NEA will agree (to) change its rule going forward,” said attorney Bruce W. Smith, who represents Monga, in an email, “but if not, that issue remains to be decided in the court.”
