A Hawaii teacher faces disciplinary action after he told faculty members that he wouldn’t teach students who were in the U.S. illegally.

John Sullivan, a social studies teacher at Campbell High School in Ewa Beach, made the controversial comments in response to an internal school email thread titled, “Students are being kept home from school due to deportation fears,” a local ABC affiliate reported.

“This is another attack on the President over deportation,” Mr. Sullivan wrote. “Their parents need to apply for immigration like everyone else. If they are here in the US illegally, I won’t teach them.”

The school’s principal, Jon Henry Lee, said Mr. Sullivan violated school rules.

“Teachers should not be using the schools email to voice political opinions,” he said. “Sullivan will teach any student who is enrolled at Campbell High School.”

In an email Wednesday to Hawaii News Now, a local NBC affiliate, Mr. Sullivan called the situation a “misunderstanding.”

“My comment in the email refers to (the email’s title) if students is [sic] kept home, teachers cannot teach them,” he wrote.

Mr. Sullivan was scheduled to meet Wednesday with Mr. Lee. A Department of Education spokesman said the teacher would be disciplined, but she did not elaborate further.

“Our public school system services all students,” DOE Director of Communications Donalyn Dela Cruz told ABC.

“It is very clear in our code of conduct that we do not discriminate on national origin as well as all of the other aspects of where you’re from, who you are, sexual orientation, religion, and the list goes on and on,” she said. “We do not discriminate [against] anyone. We are the public school system and we service all children.”

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