Thread: Brainwashed in NC: Don't blame undocumented students

Don't blame undocumented students


Elena Botella - Myers Park High School Student

Posted: Wednesday, Aug. 06, 2008


Former Mecklenburg County sheriff Jim Pendergraph, now a U.S. Department of Homeland Security official, informed North Carolina in July that federal law does not prohibit community colleges from admitting undocumented students. (Staff Photographer)

On Aug. 14 the State Board of Community Colleges will vote on whether to end the moratorium that banned illegal immigrants from degree programs within the system. The issue is being called into question after the state's attorney general, under advisement from the Department of Homeland Security, reversed his position on admitting illegal immigrants, noting that their acceptance would not be a violation of federal law.

N.C. at a crossroads

North Carolina thus stands at a crossroads. The clarification offered by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division of DHS allows our state to make whichever decision we regard as most sound.

From a cost-benefit perspective, the state benefits greatly from admitting illegal immigrants. Stephen Scott, president of Wake Technical College, has noted that illegal immigrants, who pay out-of-state-rates, offer a tuition that is a boon to the state's budget. They pay more than it costs the state to provide them the classes.

While the decision will ultimately involve this sort of economic analysis, the State Board of Community College should also consider the personal aspect of this situation. Individuals who crossed the border at a young age with their family are hardly the ones who should be held accountable for the issue of illegal immigrants. The teenagers effected by the decision are mostly hard-working individuals, who have overcome a number of obstacles and hope to obtain education (at out-of-state-rates) at community colleges so they can function as normal members of society. These adolescents were not, for the most part, the ones who made the decision to cross the border. They are, however, easy scapegoats and targets for a society unsure of the role immigrants will play in the years to come.

North Carolina should avoid punishing students for their parents' actions and, instead, recognize the drive for self improvement that led these students to apply for admission in the first place.

It is tantalizingly easy to view the issue as a mere policy decision, rather than to consider its effects on individual lives. The decision will effect a small fraction of people – of the nearly 300,000 curriculum students in community colleges statewide, officials say only 112 are illegal. A much more important consideration involves the psychological effect that blocking access to further education has on students. Students who are illegal immigrants and have no viable pathway to higher education have fewer incentives to succeed in high school and to contribute in positive ways to the communities in which they live.

According to the National Immigration Law Center, about 65,000 students graduate from U.S. high schools each year who have been in this country more than five years but face limited prospects for jobs or further education because they were brought here by parents who came illegally. Among those we know of who have been prevented from working legally or completing their education are valedictorians and honor students.

Give students an opportunity

Even if the moratorium is lifted, these students will continue to face a number of obstacles. As noted by Ricardo Sanchez, chairman of the Latino Educational Achievement Project in Seattle, even students with access to college “still have considerable obstacles. Even with a degree they still won't be able to work here legally.â€

Comments are being left at the article's website:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/406/story/108678.html

I'm sick of all this mushy propaganda coming out of the Charlotte Observer. I'm not a subscriber but my mother is and I'm going to get her to cancel it. She is not happy with the paper as it is and mostly reads to see "what the crazies are saying today"

They should make them international students which they and make them go through that way. Then they have to go back where they came from and get a visa, prove they have enough money to graduate, must have health insurance at all times and cannot work as per immigration laws. The colleges and universities are very stringent on those immigration laws and do have students deport for violations. They are more strict with the laws than our federal government.

I don't blame the students, I blame their parents for bringing them here illegally and I blame all politicians and political leaders that have allowed and/or promoted the illegals invasion to continue over the years.


While I and other Americans don’t blame the students, and may even feel compassion for the young people, our children come first. We do not have enough to go around and our children should not suffer because of a group of criminal illegals decided to violate our laws. And too, as a tax payer, it is not my obligation to fund illegals children…


I hear they have excellent colleges in Mexico!


Attrition+ Enforcment+Revision of the 14th Amendment+ Special Forces protecting our borders+ Deportation+ no immigration for 5 years= “We the peopleâ€

NO - NO WHAT DOESN'T THE GOVERNMENT UNDERSTAND ABOUT -NO

ISN'T HE THERE TO SERVE US - THE TAX PAYERS - NOT SPECIAL INTEREST
GROUPS ?????? FIRE HIM

So, I take it that Ms. Botella is more than willing to give up her seat in college (I assume she has sights on college) to a "hard working" "should not be held accountable" "not their fault" illegal alien? Ms. Botella, through her publicly taxpayer funded primary and secondary education (which illegal aliens also receive gratis of the American citizen taxpayer) should know about "allocation of resources". College is not a limitless resource and many deserving students are turned away for lack of seats/classroom capacity, etc. It's so commendable and magnanimous of Ms. Botella to volunteer to give up her slot to a "hard working" illegal alien.

What some of these people don't understand is that once these illegal kids graduate, they get jobs in those fields. In the end they are stealing jobs from Americans and cannot use the excuse that they are doing jobs Americans don't want to do. Our kids have loans to pay and cannot afford to be paid what they would pay an illegal.

While I and other Americans don’t blame the students, and may even feel compassion for the young people, our children come first. We do not have enough to go around and our children should not suffer because of a group of criminal illegals decided to violate our laws. And too, as a tax payer, it is not my obligation to fund illegals children…

ITA There is a time for these students to know they are no longer children and are accountable for their own actions. Going back their country and applying to come back in legally, not taking seats in college from American students, and jobs from citizens within the same field is the right thing to do. Where is the compassion for the American student. There is none.

"On Aug. 14 the State Board of Community Colleges will vote on whether to end the moratorium that banned illegal immigrants from degree programs within the system".

Doesn't it say illegal immigrants. How can you legally attend an American school if you are here illegally?????????