Thread: NC: Feds say colleges can enroll illegal immigrants

"The letter from Cooper's office advised the state Community College System that federal law bars the admission of illegal immigrants to public colleges and universities, even if they pay out-of-state tuition. "

I would like to see more about the federal law Cooper was referring to. Someone from Civitas was on talk radio the other day talking about this. He said that there is a federal law that prohibits illegals from attending our colleges. So why is ICE dismissing it?

I just think it's outrageous that ICE is supposed to be ENFORCING our immigration laws and instead they tell us it's okay to admit them into our colleges. It doesn't make any sense.

Citizens of Arizona, Oklahoma and several other states are losing "their" ILLEGALS moving to "friendly" states. With several laws including easy D.L.'s and college entrance a fair share will move to North Carolina. I only hope that our state politicians will get on the ball, the FEDS refuse to stop the invasion, so we can send "our" ILLEGALS scurrying on down the road.

Lack of a national immigration policy creates a new headache
by • published May 11, 2008 12:15 am

North Carolina’s governor and attorney general gave contradictory advice last week to community colleges and universities on whether they can admit illegal immigrants. The conflict is yet another example of the dilemmas state and local governments face thanks to the federal government’s incoherent immigration policy.

U.S. lawmakers’ continued paralysis contributes to a culture of lawlessness that undermines our nation’s social fabric and leaves states and local governments in endless catch-22s when it comes to dealing with the 11 million to 12 million people in the country illegally.

In a statement issued Thursday, Gov. Mike Easley defied the advice of Attorney General Roy Cooper’s office and told community colleges they could continue their policy of admitting people who are in the country illegally.

“The Community College board should continue its current policy, which is consistent with other states,â€

Illegals receiving in-state tuition rates clearly discriminates against U.S. citizens and law-abiding foreign students who cannot. This is the first step in the goal of making illegals eligible for grants and student loans, in addition to favorable racial status awarded. This obviously, will displace legal residents and American citizens from colleges and severely reduce the available pool of grants and loans.

Some may think that there are unlimited seats available to fill in colleges. The truth is, for every admission of an illegal alien to college, an American student is denied because of the limited seats available. The last time I checked, going to college was not a “job Americans wont’ do.â€

Published: May 10, 2008 12:30 AM
Modified: May 10, 2008 04:47 AM


U.S.: Colleges may admit illegals
Federal officials say N.C. schools aren't required to consider students' status

Kristin Collins, Staff Writer

North Carolina is free to admit illegal immigrants to public colleges and universities, federal officials said Friday.

"It is left for the school to decide whether or not to enroll" illegal immigrants, said a statement released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "The Department of Homeland Security does not require any school to determine a student's status."

The statement joined a chorus of voices -- including one from an immigration hardliner -- disputing the advice that the state Attorney General's Office offered this week to the Community College System. An advisory letter from the attorney general recommended that the colleges stop admitting illegal immigrants because a federal law appeared to require it.

"The attorney general is all by himself," said Josh Bernstein, of the National Immigration Law Center in Washington, D.C., which advocates for poor immigrants. "Nobody believes that the law says this. Nor has anyone ever brought it up, including the authors of the legislation."

Lawsuits elsewhere in the nation have challenged the policy of offering in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, but no suit has argued that it is illegal simply to allow undocumented students to seek degrees, several immigration law experts said.

The handful of illegal immigrants who attend North Carolina's 58 community colleges and 16 public universities must pay out-of-state tuition, which the schools say more than covers the cost of their instruction. Officials at the Community College System released a new estimate Friday, saying a recent survey showed that only 112 of 297,000 degree-seeking students were illegal immigrants. The University of North Carolina system says 27 of its 200,000 students are here illegally. Most of those who are college age arrived in the United States as young children, accompanying their parents.

The letter from the office of Attorney General Roy Cooper, released Wednesday, said that federal code listed post-secondary education as a benefit to which illegal immigrants are not entitled. It said that unless the state passes a law expressly allowing illegal immigrants to attend its colleges, admitting them might not stand up to a court challenge.

The letter also acknowledged that the law on the matter is "unsettled" and advised the colleges to seek advice from the Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for the law's enforcement.

Clarification provided

Federal immigration officials provided clarification Friday at the request of The News & Observer. The statement says that, although illegal immigrants are in danger of deportation and possible criminal prosecution, schools are not required to use immigration status as criteria for admission. They also do not have to report students who are in the country illegally, except those who have student visas and are registered with the Student Exchange and Visitor Program.

Officials in Cooper's office responded with a brief written statement, saying that this week's letter "advises that the [Community College] System can rely on the Department of Homeland Security for guidance."

The letter has become the target of scrutiny from immigration advocates and lawyers across the country.

Several said the attorney general's advice defied their understanding of the law, including Mark Krikorian, head of a national group that advocates for a crackdown on illegal immigration.

"I've never heard anyone say that before," said Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., of the idea that federal law prohibits illegal immigrants from attending public colleges. "I've never understood that to be the case."

No public benefits

Michael A. Olivas, a professor at the University of Houston Law School in Texas, said he has studied in-depth the section of law referenced in the North Carolina letter, written by general counsel J.B. Kelly. Olivas said the law is written to ensure that illegal immigrants don't get public benefits such as welfare, disability payments and college scholarships, which take money from state coffers.

Olivas said the law does not control who can be admitted to a university.

"The federal government doesn't get to tell the state of North Carolina what it can do with its admissions," Olivas said.

Some lawyers disagreed. Mike Hethmon, general counsel for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a Washington group that has sued states who offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, said he thinks North Carolina's interpretation of the law is correct.

Hethmon said he has never filed suit against a state for admitting immigrants, but he would be willing to file such a suit if he found the right plaintiff. Right now, he said many states are simply disregarding federal law on admissions.

"There's a pervasive sense of impunity," Hethmon said, "and it's quickly reaching a boiling point."

Gov. Mike Easley on Thursday challenged the opinion from Cooper's office. But other state leaders said Friday that they agreed with the advice.

State Rep. Paul Stam, a Republican from Apex who is a lawyer, said he read the law and agreed with the interpretation of the Attorney General's Office. Stam said he will ask Cooper to sign the letter himself and make it a formal opinion that can be cited in future legal cases.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1067701.html

Some lawyers disagreed. Mike Hethmon, general counsel for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a Washington group that has sued states who offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, said he thinks North Carolina's interpretation of the law is correct.

Hethmon said he has never filed suit against a state for admitting immigrants, but he would be willing to file such a suit if he found the right plaintiff. Right now, he said many states are simply disregarding federal law on admissions.


Maybe someone from ALIPAC can contact him about a law suit in North carolina.....

Originally Posted by MW

Richard wrote:

I am glad about the outcome. They have come down where I would have wished them to.

I'm totally confused with your position on this, Richard.

Me too.

May 13, 2008, 5:55PM
NC community colleges halt illegal immigrant policy


By ESTES THOMPSON Associated Press Writer
© 2008 The Associated Press

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RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina's community college system reversed itself Tuesday and said it will no longer admit illegal immigrants until federal officials formally weigh in on whether it is legal.

The college system announced last year that all of its 58 campuses would enroll illegal immigrants into degree programs who are at least 18 years old and who have graduated from high school. Previously, under a policy adopted in 2004, that decision was left to the individual campuses.

The change was supported by Gov. Mike Easley, but it provoked heavy criticism — especially from the leading candidates running to replace the outgoing governor. That led the nation's third-largest community college system to seek an opinion from the state attorney general's office on whether the admissions policy was legal under federal law.

Attorney General Roy Cooper's office recommended the community colleges drop the lenient admissions policy, and suggested that following stricter guidelines approved in 2001 — under which illegal immigrants were not eligible for a public post-secondary education — was more likely to withstand judicial scrutiny.

Both Easley and the community college system asked Cooper's office to seek formal guidance from federal authorities.

Although federal immigration officials last week released a statement saying there is no law prohibiting the state from educating illegal immigrants at public colleges and universities, Cooper's office said that statement is not the same as a legal opinion from the Department of Homeland Security.

"At the community college system's request, we are seeking guidance from the Department of Homeland Security on this admissions policy as it relates to federal law," said spokeswoman Noelle Talley.

While a number of states have debated whether undocumented immigrants should be entitled to the same tuition discounts as other in-state residents, the North Carolina debate appears to be different because it concerns whether undocumented students can attend public colleges at all, said Norma Kent, a vice president of the American Association of Community Colleges.

In Arizona, for instance, voters approved a ballot measure that prohibits undocumented immigrants from paying in-state tuition rates, a move that has driven many out of the public education system. A federal bill called "The DREAM Act" that would have given some illegal immigrants legal status to serve in the armed forces or attend college stalled last year in Congress.

Only about 100 of the nearly 300,000 degree-seeking community college students are illegal immigrants in North Carolina. They pay full, out-of-state tuition rates. Those enrolled in degree courses during the 2006-2007 school year may continue their studies, system president R. Scott Ralls said.

The system's decision does not affect illegal immigrants who are high school students taking community college classes, or adults in non-college level classes.


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/ ... 77144.html

At last it looks as if North Carolina wants to be right! The decision before by Governor Mike Easley and Martin Lancaster to force North Carolina Community Colleges to accept ILLEGALS would have cost all Democrats at the polls in 2008. It is difficult for me to believe that the Governor is a member of the same Democrat Party as Rep. Heath Shuler’s, the author of the Pro American Citizen "SAVE" Act! It is my understanding that Democrats at the state level in North Carolina have made this decision, have blocked almost all enforcement legislation in the General Assembly, issued hundreds of thousands of licenses to ILLEGALS, and have pushed for other benefits for ILLEGALS and their supporting groups