Thread: NC must educate IAs to meet workforce needs in the future

EDITORIAL of the Davidson County Dispatch:
State must educate illegal immigrants to meet workforce needs in the future

The University of North Carolina and state community college systems face controversial issues involving admission and tuition rates for illegal immigrants. The community college's top lawyer advised community colleges last week that they must accept undocumented students who meet admission requirements. But after criticism from the public and the five leading candidates in next year's election for governor, the system early this week referred the issue to Attorney General Roy Cooper for a ruling. Then Thursday, UNC officials said they are considering charging illegal immigrants in-state tuition instead of the higher out-of-state tuition they currently pay. That proposal drew immediate opposition from four gubernatorial candidates and likely will spark more public outcry.

The knee-jerk reaction of the candidates - Democrats Bev Perdue and Richard Moore and Republicans Bill Graham, Bob Orr and Fred Smith - shows what a hot-button topic immigration is in North Carolina. For the most part, their reasoning was vague or erroneous. Speaking of the community colleges, Graham said undocumented students are a drain on taxpayers (even though the $7,500 in out-of-state tuition they pay more than covers the $5,400 cost of their classes, not counting building costs) and take seats away from American citizens (even though community colleges have an open-door policy that admits virtually any applicant who is a high school graduate or 18 years of age).

Surprisingly few students are involved. Only about 340 of the 270,000 students in the community college system are undocumented. The UNC system cannot provide a comparable total, but the number is believed to be low. UNC-Chapel Hill reports just four undocumented students, and UNC-Charlotte reports just eight this year.

Most of the undocumented students were brought to the United States by their parents as babies or small children. The students themselves had no say in the matter. They did not intentionally violate federal immigration laws. It is not their fault that the United States has a dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy that Congress continues to fail to fix. They could apply for admission as out-of-state students if they were still living in the countries of their birth. They mostly pay their own way because they are ineligible for state or federal grants or loans. Martin Lancaster, the retiring community college system president, contends that if undocumented students are left uneducated, they will cost the state more in future social services and crime. The denial of basic services to immigrants in some European countries has created an underclass linked to violence and terrorism. The recent riots in immigrant suburbs of Paris in France are examples.

But the most compelling argument for providing higher education for illegal immigrants is that North Carolina needs their labor. "State of the North Carolina Workforce: An Assessment of the State's Labor Force Demand Supply 2007-2017," an N.C. Commerce Department report reviewed last week by Davidson Works (formerly the county Workforce Development Board), says that as the baby-boom generation retires, the state will produce just 30,000 new adults for the 70,000 new jobs that will be created each year for the next 10 years. The in-migration of high-skilled workers, including Hispanics, Asians and foreign-born residents, is needed to make up part of the difference. But the education of unskilled and semi-skilled migrants and their children is needed to make up the rest. (A UNC-Chapel Hill business professor made a similar argument at the Lexington Area Chamber of Commerce annual meeting this year.) After the permanent shift of many unskilled and semi-skilled jobs overseas, all North Carolinians need education to qualify for the high-skilled jobs of the future. Other states have taken steps, such as authorizing in-state tuition, to help educate illegal immigrants. North Carolina must consider similar steps to compete.
http://www.the-dispatch.com/article/200 ... 80308/1012

Welcome to the future U.S....where EVERY ONE is simply a taxable unit of labor.

How about first improving educational standards for American high school students? Instead of letting their discipline slide and letting them become adults when they are only 15 y.o. Then we would have plenty of capable employees in both the professions AND skilled vocations.

Martin Lancaster, the retiring community college system president, contends that if undocumented students are left uneducated, they will cost the state more in future social services and crime.

Not if they self-deport or are deported.

"We enforce our laws, and we defend law-abiding citizens. And we reserve the benefits of citizenship for legal residents."
Matt Blunt Governor of Missouri

The writer of this piece needs education. Educate those who cannot legally get a job? Where is the logic coming from? First it was we need "unskilled slave labor to do the job Americans wont do" now its we need "Educated Slaves." Which is it? Make up your minds.

This is a slap in the face to every international student who has and will come to the NC to continue their education.

Below are results of the ongoing WRAL poll:

Should the UNC System offer lower, in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants, who now pay out-of-state rates if they qualify for admission?

Options Votes Percent
Yes 88 5%
No 1,735 94%
Not sure 24 1%
1,847 votes total.

If our "learned" leaders go against the will of the vast majority of NC citizens, they are bigger fools than I've always known they are.

It does strike me as odd that they would continue to suggest we must educate the children of illegals or illegal children to have a workforce - when we have many young people in this country that could use the education and training and do those jobs.