September 29, 2009

Sending the Wrong Message to Illegals

Your Sept. 25 editorial supporting admission of illegals into community colleges is wrong on all counts.

You wrongly suggest that the topic is needlessly heated because of its "irrelevant" inclusion in the health-care debate. The previous bills being discussed didn't include any enforcement mechanism against illegals getting health care benefits.

You salute the president of Sandhills Community College for taking the "unpopular stand" of allowing illegals admission. Granted, 80 percent of us, the great unwashed, oppose illegals getting the benefit of secondary education. But the popular stand among the "enlightened" elitists in his circle, and yours, is to allow illegals admission. Doing the politically correct thing doesn't take courage.

The "well-delineated" restrictions, including higher tuition, makes it more likely to have an illegal alien drug dealer with some money enroll to further his business knowledge than a poor illegal immigrant just out of high school.

You boldly state an exact "low" number of illegals enrolled. The fact is that neither you nor the community college has any idea who is legal and who isn't. The community colleges have relied on self-reporting.

Further, you have no way of knowing that most of the illegal students "are children of illegal immigrants who themselves have broken no laws." Even if they are, these "children" are now adults and need to take the proper steps to become legal instead of perpetuating the illegal activity of their parents.

Finally, while most want legal immigrants to learn English and assimilate into our society, most just want illegal immigrants to return to their homeland.

Illegal immigration affects everything from our pocketbooks to our safety, from our sovereignty to our rule of law.

Admitting illegals sends the wrong message. And remember, illegal aliens, even those educated at a community college, can't legally get a job.

William Barnes

Cary

www.thepilot.com