Illegal immigrants, illegal education?
Submitted by janestancill on April 10, 2008 - 12:58pm.

N.C. Community College System President Martin Lancaster said today he fully expects legislators to pass a law barring illegal immigrants from the state's colleges.

The legislation is likely to be introduced the first day of the legislative session next month, Lancaster said in a meeting with editors at The News & Observer.

Lancaster, who last year issued a passionate defense of allowing illegal immigrants to enroll at community colleges, said a new law would roll back the system's progress in educating immigrants to contribute to North Carolina's economy.

And, he added, if the legislation prohibits illegal immigrants from taking non-credit courses such as English as a second language, it would be "perverse."

More after the jump.

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"If North Carolina wants to be a knowledge-based economy, then everyone in the state has got to get the maximum amount of knowledge they can get," said Lancaster, who will retire at the end of the month. "It doesn't matter about their legal status."

Lancaster was bombarded with criticism last year after the system's attorney sent a memo to the state's 58 community colleges, telling them they could not keep out illegal immigrants. In December, the system asked the office of Attorney General Roy Cooper for a legal opinion on the issue. Lancaster said no opinion has been sent.

While Congress has not acted on the issue, Lancaster said, there should be a way for illegal immigrants to find a pathway to legitimacy. He does not favor amnesty, he said, but why not require immigrants to get a college education on the way to citizenship?

"Earn the right to legal status by earning a degree from a community college," he suggested. "Then we'll have a valuable asset."



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