Time was when such icons of N.C. public life and progressive politics as UNC President Emeritus Bill Friday and former Gov. Jim Hunt set a standard for Democratic politicians aspiring to higher office. In April 2005, Hunt and Friday and several legislators, including a few Republicans as well as Democrats, were proposing allowing illegal immigrants to attend public colleges in North Carolina at in-state tuition rates. Undocumented students who spent four years in and graduated from N.C. high schools, and who qualified academically for admission, could attend at in-state rates. There were some undocumented students attending some campuses at out-of-state rates, but no one seemed to know how many there were. The higher rates for out-of-stte tuition were thought to be a big barrier.
But then-Gov. Mike Easley said he thought federal law would prohibit their attending at in-state rates, though a number of other states allowed it, and after Rush Limbaugh ridiculed the idea, it died in the legislature.
Two years later, when the immigration debate had heated up somewhat, Easley offered another view: admitting illegal aliens to public colleges at out-of-state rates made sense because it at least didn't cost the state any money out of pocket and because it would give them some training to perform work if and when they became legalized citizens. Easley thought illegal immigrants ought to be required to go to school, in fact.
But in the 2008 election, the state Community College system changed its policy to bar illegal immigrants at any price. Among those driving the policy change was then-Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue, running for governor. She won election narrowly last fall.
After more than a year of study, the system's governing board last month reversed itself once again, voting to allow illegal immigrants to attend at out-of-state rates as long as they didn't take the place of any legal students. Still opposed to admitting illegal immigrants are Gov. Bev Perdue, as well as Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, now a member of the community colleges board, though they haven't worked hard to keep them out. Still, illegal immigrants evidently won't be allowed to enroll before next fall, though.
Democrats such as Perdue and Dalton generally hold in high regard the views of a former education governor such as Jim Hunt or a lion of American higher education such as Bill Friday. But on the issue of illegal immigrants in public colleges, their view is more in line with Republicans in the legislature who hope to push legislation next year to prohibit the admission of undocumented students.
That puts Perdue and Dalton at odds with the 2005 views of Friday and Hunt on this one issue, and complicates their chances of becoming known as education governors, if they want to earn that recognition. But it's also worth noting this verity: Friday and Hunt don't have to run for re-election.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
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12 comments:
How sad it is that those elected to office vary their "policy" to accommodate future votes in the hopes remaining in office to render more pandering to those who are not their constituents.
Well said Algernon
They aren't qualifying academically. They are being admitted into the UNC system under racial and socio-economic preferences. Displacing more qualified North Carolinians from a system that they have generously supported for many generations.
we have an educational elite composed of democrats kissing up to be PC
Political Correctness gone amuck will be the end of the USA.
We are witnessing a slow death of the great USA.
Be careful an illegal immigrant may hold your kids for ransom.
The Cost of Illegal Immigration to North Carolinians
Familarize yourself with the latest study just released on the impact of illegal immigration to North Carolinians here: http://www.fairus.org/site/DocServer/nc_costs.pdf?docID=2441
You won't see its findings and contents discussed by the dinosaur media because they'd rather you not be aware. In short, it costs our state $1.3 billion annually for just incarceration - emergency medical care - education services to illegal immigrants. That figure does not include English instruction, law enforcement/courts, translators, assistance for public housing, food stamps, welfare payments, etc. Other factors not considered in the reports are job losses by citizens to illegal aliens and the depression of wages in the construction, landscaping, assembly, food processing and service sectors that most illegal aliens are employed in.
Also, the cost to North Carolinians of their share of the impact that illegal immigration places on 15 federal department was not included.
Overall, the cost of illegal immigration nationally is in excess of $100 billion annually.
Another item gleaned from the study I cited is the remittances of $1.2 billion annually from illegal immigrants in North Carolina to Mexico. Nationwide, $26 billion in remittances is transferred from the U.S. to Mexico. This is money that is permanently transferred from our economy to a foreign country due to the lack of border control and non-enforcement of hiring laws.
Furthermore, FAIR points out that the cost of educating a public school student in NC is $8,150 per year which translates into an annual expenditure of $975 million for illegal aliens and the U.S. born children of illegal aliens in our state. Is this alone not an outrage? Just think, using that $8,150 cost and multiplying it by 13 (K – 12 school years) produces a cost of $105,950 over the term of the illegal alien child!!! That is money forfeited by taxpayers to educate them and now the elitist donkeys on the board of the NC CCS wants to welcome illegal aliens in with open arms!!!
What Were They Thinking? - PART 1
What are the unelected bureaucrats sitting on the NC CCS board who are actually public servants and are paid through our hard earned tax dollars thinking? Or, perhaps the better question would be…are they thinking of the welfare of the American citizen and the legal residents of North Carolina? Or, are they insulated elitists bending to the will of destructive special interests? We have 11% unemployment and climbing in North Carolina. WHY ARE THEY NOT FOCUSING WHAT STATE RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE FOR EDUCATING AND TRAINING UNEMPLOYED CITIZENS FOR JOBS INSTEAD OF FINDING WAYS TO FACILITATE PLACING ILLEGAL ALIENS INTO OUR COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM?
It is beyond the pale that citizen taxpayers are already forced by a miscreant Supreme Court decision to educate illegal alien children through high school and you want to extend educational benefits to illegals in college! Don’t even begin the argument that they will pay their own way because that is absurd. Don’t forget, illegal aliens are called illegal because they are illegally present in the country. Providing educational benefits to illegals only begets more illegal immigration just as providing free medical services, employment, and anchor baby citizenship that opens our entire welfare benefit system to the family.
As a citizen of North Carolina, I am appalled by the State Board allowing illegal aliens to attend our community colleges. It is violation of law that illegal aliens are allowed into colleges at all. I would argue that it is in violation of the 'aiding and abetting' statute in the 1986 IRCA (Immigration Reform and Control Act). Even if illegal aliens were to pay out of state tuition, it would not cover the entire cost of their education because of capital costs, often not figured fully into the total cost calculations per student. Therefore, taxpayer subsidization of illegal aliens would occur. Also, why would the Board allow an illegal alien to take a seat in college from a deserving American citizen or legal immigrant? Seats in all of our post-secondary facilities are a limited and highly coveted resource, so why would you put an illegal alien into one? Why should we be in the business of educating and training a group of people who are illegally here and cannot legally be employed? Could they unequivocally state and prove that not one single tax dollar would be used and not one single citizen or LEGAL immigrant would be affected by illegal aliens attending our community colleges? This decision flies in the face of the rule of law. Instead, we should demand that that illegals are not entering the system by requiring the use of verification tools. I recommend mandating the use of the S.A.V.E (Systematic Alien Verification Entitlements) System to certify all applicants are legally present in the U.S.
What Were They Thinking? - PART 2
Furthermore, the people of NC are opposed to allowing illegals to attend community college, as illustrated by the Civitas Institute Decision Maker Poll Results of NC voters:
- 68% of N.C. voters oppose allowing illegal immigrants to enroll in community colleges (February 2008).
Another poll just released this week by the American Council for Immigration Reform (ANCIR) indicates that 78% of Americans are against amnesty for illegal aliens with the same percentage stating that they believe illegals have had a substantial negative impact on the quality and cost of our health care system. Obviously, you can infer that Americans do not want illegals in our educational system beyond which we are already federally coerced to do so.
The statements you hear from advocates for illegal aliens in favor of them having access to our colleges generally flow around their claim that better educated illegals will be more productive and will assimilate better into our society. This is not only fuzzy thinking, it is faulty logic. It’s very precept is that the illegal gets additional benefits to what they have already enjoyed by illegally remaining and operating here and gives a segment of them what they want – unfettered access to our higher education system (in addition to our primary and secondary education system that they have already utilized). This, of course, will be costly to the American taxpayer whether the illegal pays out of state tuition or not. It also deprives a deserving citizen or legal immigrant of the seat that the illegal would occupy. Another marketing campaign is that a child should not be penalized because of the ‘sins’ of their parents. Allowing access to higher education, however, allows the child to benefit from the fact their parents broke the law and continue to remain here illegally.
I take exception to NCCCS reporting that ‘only’ a hundred or so illegal aliens are currently enrolled. This is a false and hollow number because it relies on self-reporting and not many illegal immigrants are going to truthfully report their immigration status. I do not believe the admissions office takes any action to investigate or determine status. The number is much larger than what they are officially reporting, and likely numbers in the thousands.
Admitting illegal immigrants to our community colleges is a slap in the face and a hit in the pocketbook to citizens, legal immigrants and their children. It is apparent that the NC CCS board is willfully unwilling to stand up for the rule of law and the LEGAL residents of North Carolina. They obviously have no concept of the definition of “illegal” when coupled with the term immigrant in rendering their egregiously infuriating decision.
Very nice write up. Easy to understand and straight to the point.
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