Thread: NC: Hurrah! Colleges to bar illegal immigrants

No to open enrollment

Friday, August 15 (updated 3:06 am)

Community college leaders should have stuck to their policy barring illegal immigrants from enrolling in degree programs. Instead, meeting Thursday, they called for a study of the issue but in the meantime agreed to allow open enrollment.

"This study will be critical to our working out a reasoned policy on this hot-potato issue," State Board of Community Colleges member Stuart Fountain of Asheboro said.

Unfortunately, the board ignored a reasoned statement from member Beverly Perdue: "I'm against allowing illegal immigrants who can never work legally in North Carolina to attend community colleges in North Carolina."

No one else on the board wanted to handle the hot potato. Then again, no one else is running for governor.

Perdue, the Democratic lieutenant governor, has it right. While some argue that access to higher education affords better employment opportunities and promises to boost the state's economy, such thinking ignores the inconvenient fact that federal law prohibits hiring undocumented workers.

Community college leaders are fooling themselves if they expect a study to clear away that and other obstacles.

Perdue's opposition as governor would be formidable. The Republican candidate, Pat McCrory, also vows if he's elected to overturn an open-enrollment policy.

Furthermore, a North Carolina congresswoman, Republican Sue Myrick of Charlotte, announced Wednesday she'll introduce a bill to cut off federal funds for colleges and universities that knowingly admit illegal immigrants. Then there are more frequent crackdowns at companies that employ illegal immigrants. And, in Alamance County Wednesday, state troopers stopped a charter bus on its way to Mexico. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took into custody several people who weren't suspected of any other criminal behavior but were deemed not to be legal residents. Proceedings were initiated that could lead to deportation.

The climate is not conducive to leniency for illegal immigrants.

It's difficult to fault the intentions of leaders who want to open doors to students who, after all, are granted the benefit of a K-12 education and hope to better themselves through study at community colleges. But setting policies that conflict with the law isn't wise. The only way to proceed should be by legal means. Colleges and universities that want to admit noncitizens should help them secure student visas. When they graduate, those individuals should seek the necessary documents to gain legal employment.

Meanwhile, Congress should try again to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation that will better control our borders and employment issues but also provide a path for established immigrants who meet certain requirements to gain legal status - including the privilege of attending public colleges.

Those colleges should wait for a better time to welcome students who don't yet belong.
http://www.news-record.com/content/2008 ... enrollment

The climate is not conducive to leniency for illegal immigrants.

It's difficult to fault the intentions of leaders who want to open doors to students who, after all, are granted the benefit of a K-12 education and hope to better themselves through study at community colleges. But setting policies that conflict with the law isn't wise. The only way to proceed should be by legal means. Colleges and universities that want to admit noncitizens should help them secure student visas. When they graduate, those individuals should seek the necessary documents to gain legal employment. The climate is not conducive to leniency for illegal immigrants.

ICE - ILLEGALS ARE HERE ARE YOU LISTENING - TO THESE SCHOOLS

Meanwhile, Congress should try again to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation that will better control our borders and employment issues but also provide a path for established immigrants who meet certain requirements to gain legal status - including the privilege of attending public colleges.

NO, NO - ILLEGALS AND ANCHOR BABIES !

Yes, ICE can more easily round up and deport illegals if they are going to have "free reign" to colleges in North Carolina!

Let's see illegals have always been accepted with a wink to do the "jobs Americans won't do," because Americans are too educated to do menial work. The illegals now will get a higher education, which means to me they will also become part of the class that won't do the "jobs Americans won't do.
At the same time there are thousands of students from all over the world waiting for student visas to come here, and these illegals have managed to push themselves to the front of the line again.
This is not justice on behalf of American students that are supposed to be the hope of the future for this country. What sort of convoluted logic is being practiced in our institutions of higher learning.

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Colleges to bar illegal immigrants

By Lynn Bonner and Kristin Collins, Staff
Comment on this story

RALEIGH - Leaders of the state's community colleges voted today to close their doors to illegal immigrants until they complete a study and come up with a permanent policy.
The decision today by the State Board of Community Colleges marks a reversal from Thursday, when officials indicated they were inclined to admit illegal immigrants pending the outcome of the study.

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, the Democratic candidate for governor, made the motion to ban illegal immigrants from community colleges while the study is ongoing. Eleven board members voted in favor of the motion. The board's chairman did not ask for "no" votes, noting that the 11 in favor were a majority of the 16 members eligible to vote.

The study represents the colleges' attempt to navigate a charged political atmosphere.

Several state politicians have already promised to try to pass laws this year that would deny admission to illegal immigrants, effectively nullifying any decision the board makes. Both candidates for governor have come out against college education for illegal immigrants.

And this week, U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, a Charlotte Republican, said she plans to introduce a bill in September that would withhold federal funding from colleges and universities that knowingly admit illegal immigrants.

During a committee meeting Thursday, some board members said they had gotten heated messages from constituents on both sides of the issue.

In that environment, they said, there is no sense in making a hasty decision. Some said a well-researched policy could dissuade lawmakers from getting involved

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1179102.html

I have read that the importation of illegal foreign workers over past decades has been a key strategy in U.S. business's plan to "break the back of the unions" which held considerable power nationally up until at least the early 1970's. .....Meatpacking plants used to employ U.S. workers in union-scale jobs which began at over $19.00 per hour, paid good medical benefits, and ensured safe working conditions because union safety inspectors went into the plants regularly as monitors. Now I believe they pay $9.00 per hour, "medical benefits" are provided at taxpayer expense at the local hospital emergency room, and there are no outside inspectors of the safety of the plants' working conditions. No surprise that one of the largest supporters of both increased legal immigration and amnesty for illegal aliens already in the country is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce!

This is what is happening in America.not so much American citizens do not want the work BUT THEY WANT A LIVEABLE INCOME. The union busting I am not sure about since many ILLEGALS ARE IN UNIONS "agri and food preparations"buit still will work for less and still get medical through hospital emergency rooms.

This last certainly is a hopeful note, although I don't believe this will last more than a few months.
As I may have mentioned before, I think this group may get sued whichever way it decides, and by flip-flopping so fast, could it be they are trying to pull the rug out from under both sides?

Originally Posted by vortex

Let's see illegals have always been accepted with a wink to do the "jobs Americans won't do," because Americans are too educated to do menial work. The illegals now will get a higher education, which means to me they will also become part of the class that won't do the "jobs Americans won't do.

There is a second part to this "Catch 22": Students from India are being encouraged to take permanent jobs away from American citizens because the evil President Bush has stated that Americans are not smart enough to do these jobs. As a result Michael Chertoff and the oxymoronic Department of Homeland Security has increased the amount of time a student from India can work at an American university from 18 months to 3 years. This locks out American students from getting university jobs and these jobs are paid for with our tax money. In effect our taxes now pay for an illegal program of discriminatory hiring that locks out Americans. It is against Federal law to lock out an American citizen from the hiring practice because of his origin. IT IS AGAINST THE LAW.

Is there an investigation into North Carolina's higher education system and these illegal practices?

Illegal invaders have already demonstrated they will not hesitate to use fradulent and or stolen identification to seek employment in this country! I don't need a "study" to tell me that an illegal with a college degree is not going to be seeking one of those jobs that "Americans do not want to do!"

It's against the law for an illegal in this country to be seeking ANY job! Why would anyone thinks it's a good idea to provide a higher education to a group of people who have proven the rule of law in this country is simply something to be manipulated and ignored.

Let them go back to their countries of orgin if they want a college education!