NC Governor Candidates Oppose Admissions Change for Immigrants
By GARY D. ROBERTSON
Associated Press Writer

Posted: Nov. 29 6:11 p.m.
Updated: Nov. 29 8:01 p.m.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The five leading candidates for North Carolina governor next year at least agree on one thing: They don't want illegal immigrants to enroll in community colleges.

Democratic hopefuls Bev Perdue and Richard Moore joined the three top Republicans on Thursday in opposing a decision by the state community college office to mandate the enrollment of undocumented individuals on all 58 campuses.

"I don't think that illegal aliens should be allowed to partake in community college classes," Moore told reporters Thursday. "I have a tough time getting around the 'illegal' part in the immigrant. This is a nation of laws, and we have to abide by the law."

Perdue campaign spokesman David Kochman also said the lieutenant governor opposes the decision made by a community college system attorney earlier this month that overturned a 2004 policy giving each campus discretion to accept these immigrants or not.

"She does not think people in this country illegally should be able to attend our community colleges," Kochman said.

In other separate interviews or statements, Republicans Bill Graham, Bob Orr and Fred Smith are calling on either the system board – of which Perdue and Moore are members – to override the latest change or the Legislature to return to Raleigh to do it.

"The Legislature should act quickly, setting politics aside, and address this important issue," said Smith, a state senator. "We can't continue to ignore our laws by providing new incentives to come to North Carolina illegally."

The quick candidate lineup in opposition to the enrollment requirement comes after a prime example of how tricky the immigration issue can be in political campaigns.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton took heat from rivals of both parties for what they called her noncommittal answers on a proposal by New York Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Although Spitzer pulled back on the idea two weeks ago, Clinton's response has provided a weapon to opponents still labeling her as indecisive.

A leading supporter of the North Carolina change called opponents shortsighted.

The children of workers who entered the country unlawfully shouldn't be punished, and more trained workers are needed to sustain the U.S. economy in the future, said Melinda Wiggins with the Durham-based Student Action with Farmworkers.

Wiggins and Orr said the quandary reflects a failure by elected leaders in Washington to pass immigration reform that would resolve how to treat the children of people who entered the country illegally.

"They should move and do something as a national policy so that these children should not be punished," Orr said.

But Orr added that doesn't make the community college policy right.

The memo by community college general counsel David Sullivan says giving colleges the option to deny admission based on legal status ran counter to the system's open-door admissions policy, which provides enrollment for anyone over 18 and is a high school graduate.

Before 2004, undocumented people weren't supposed to enroll in degree programs at all. At least 37 of the campuses had agreed since the 2004 memo to admit the illegal immigrants.

Only about 340 students have been identified by community college officials as undocumented individuals, compared to 268,400 students who are in degree programs. System administrators don't expect the number to rise dramatically, because the students must pay out-of-state tuition.

Still, Graham said, the change may push U.S. citizens from popular programs that will lead to better jobs.

"It is critical that we have priorities set so that workers born here, that are citizens, have the opportunity to engage in retraining in the community college system," he said.

Sullivan this week cited a 1997 letter signed by two lawyers in the office of then-Attorney General Mike Easley to Wake Technical Community College that said it could not set nonacademic requirements before a student can enroll.

During a public appearance Wednesday in Charlotte, Easley said community college officials misinterpreted the letter, which focused on whether the campus could prevent someone with a past criminal record from being admitted.

Easley, who is barred from running for a third consecutive term, wouldn't say whether he supports the new policy.

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