Republican Leaders: Illegal Aliens Should Not Be Admitted to State-Supported Community Colleges 

 

Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) and House Republican Leader Paul Stam (R-Wake) today expressed their displeasure with a decision issued by the legal counsel of North Carolina’s Community College System requiring admission of illegal aliens to all 58 state-supported campuses.

In a Memorandum dated November 7, 2007, and addressed to community college officials statewide, David J. Sullivan reversed earlier policy allowing “local choice” in admission of “undocumented individuals.” The memo refers to state regulations that require schools admit students on the basic requirements of either graduating from high school or being 18 years of age.  Each of the 58 community college campuses has been ordered by Sullivan to “immediately begin admitting undocumented individuals.”

In response to the recent announcement by the state Community College System that illegal immigrants are eligible for admission to all of North Carolina's community colleges, Senator Berger made the following statement:

“I am disappointed that by bureaucratic decisions our Community College System will reward illegal activity and allow individuals who have broken the law to attend North Carolina's community colleges.  Year after year community college administrators have assured Republican legislators that illegal aliens are not eligible for admission.  We now learn that, all along, illegal aliens have been eligible and admitted.  I can not decide whether I am more disturbed about the legal opinion or the past purposeful deception.  The people of North Carolina have had enough of government officials saying one thing and doing another.  They are especially tired of state officials claiming on the one hand that the illegal immigration problem is solely the result of failures at the Federal level while at the same time, by purposeful state action, North Carolina has encouraged illegal immigration with lax rules relating to driver's licenses and easy access to our already over burdened system of higher education.  The current Republican administration in Washington has received justifiable criticism for its failures; it is past time that Democrats, in control of North Carolina's executive and legislative branches, are likewise held accountable.”

Stam compared his displeasure over the state community college system’s policy change with legislation ignored by state House Democratic leaders. “Obviously, if a citizen of another country is here legally, is on a visa to study or has been issued a Green Card, they should be granted admission to our community colleges,” Stam said.

“I supported Representative George Cleveland’s bill, disallowing anyone in the United States unlawfully from attending any of the state’s community colleges,” Stam said. “That bill was assigned to Committee in March, and the House Democratic leadership ordered that the bill not be heard.”

“We are also very disappointed,” Stam said, “with a decision usurping authority previously held by local boards of trustees.”

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