Monday, May 19, 2008

Illegal Immigrant Admissions

Illegal Immigrant Admissions

Several state community college system officials said Friday that they would like to open their doors to illegal immigrants, but that their hands are tied for now. "We have no choice but to follow the advice of the [state] Attorney General's Office," said State Board of Community Colleges member Joanne Steiner, a retired executive from Wake Forest. "In this case, that's not where our hearts are. ... I feel very sad about it." Meanwhile, Scott Ralls, president of the system, said he'd happily admit illegal immigrants if he gets new legal advice. "I believe that broadly available education has more social benefit than social cost," Ralls said after a meeting of the State Board of Community Colleges.

Earlier this month, the system barred illegal immigrants from seeking degrees at all 58 of its campuses, a position that legal experts say is the most restrictive in the nation. College officials based the decision on a May 6 advisory letter from Attorney General Roy Cooper's office. That letter said federal law appears to prohibit illegal immigrants from getting post-secondary education at state colleges and universities and recommended that the community colleges seek more information from the federal Department of Homeland Security, which enforces the law. Several board members, along with Ralls, said they are waiting for the Attorney General's Office to provide more clarity on what federal law allows. Once they get that clarity, they said, they will consider whether to reverse their position on educating students regardless of legal status. In the meantime, they said, they must follow the legal advice they have.

They said they could not rely on a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, made to The News & Observer earlier this month, which said North Carolina has authority to determine who is admitted to its colleges. Ralls said he met with the Attorney General's Office on early last week to ask whether the statement had changed their advice. "They said their advice stood," Ralls said. Officials in Cooper's office say they have asked the federal government for clarification of the law, which they called "unsettled." The University of North Carolina System will continue admitting illegal immigrants at out-of-state tuition rates until the clarification is received.

(Kristin Collins, THE NEWS & OBSERVER, 5/17/08).

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