Bill tackles immigrant issue

Two state legislators are drafting a bill that would keep undocumented immigrants out of N.C. community colleges — only a month after they regained the right to enroll.

N.C. Rep. Wil Neumann, R-Gaston, and N.C. Rep. Pearl Burris-Floyd, R-Cleveland, have recruited 52 other Republicans to support the bill and are hoping to gather Democrats too.

“We need to get to the magic 61,” Burris-Floyd said, referring to the need for a majority in the 120-member House.

If they gather enough support, the bill will be introduced in May 2010, at the outset of a new session.

The legislation is a response to the N.C. State Board of Community Colleges’ recent decision to allow undocumented immigrants to enroll in the N.C. community college system.

The catch is that the immigrants must be U.S. high school graduates and pay out-of-state tuition, and they cannot displace residents.

Undocumented immigrants were first allowed to enroll in 2007. The policy continued until May 2008, when the state board enacted another ban.

The state board approved last month allowing undocumented immigrants to enroll once again. But the revised policy crafted by the community colleges will take six to 12 months to implement.

Neumann said he thinks it is inappropriate to grant community education to those here illegally.

“This is a cost I don’t think is fair for our citizens to incur, especially in an economic downturn,” he said.

For Burris-Floyd, the problem is that undocumented immigrants have an opportunity for higher education that many Americans don’t because they can’t afford tuition.

“This is not against legal immigrants, just illegals,” she said. “If anyone should get it, it should be an American.”

 The legislation is a rewrite of a previous bill a few sessions ago with the same goal, Neumann said.

“As the only case where we’re not mandated to do something by federal law or Supreme Court jurisprudence, my constituents tell me they’ve had enough,” Neumann said.

Neumann and Burris-Floyd said they expect formidable opposition from Democrats.

Megen George, director of marketing and external affairs for the N.C. community college system, said the state board follows mandates of the N.C. General Assembly, and if Neumann and Burris-Floyd are successful, they will have to stop accepting undocumented immigrants’ enrollment.

Burris-Floyd said the community college debate reflects a larger social problem.

“Nowhere else can anything illegal be allowed to stand. They know they’re illegal,” she said. “This is a slippery slope detrimental to the American way of life.”



Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.