RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina’s community college board on Friday approved allowing illegal immigrants to enroll next year, a move that could drop a contentious issue in the lap of state lawmakers in an election year.
The State Board of Community Colleges voted 13-1 to admit illegal immigrants to classrooms if they graduated from a U.S. high school, pay out-of-state tuition of about $7,700 a year and don’t displace a citizen. The opposing vote came from Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton.
The country’s third-largest community college system has changed its illegal immigrant admission policy four times since 2000. The change on admitting foreign citizens comes at a time when unemployed workers are jamming classrooms.
But North Carolina also has one of the country’s largest populations of illegal immigrants, with about 678,000 in 2008, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
The enrollment rules are comparable to those already in effect for University of North Carolina campuses.
“But we also recognized the needs of our state’s citizens to have every educational opportunity available by adding the caveat that a North Carolina or U.S citizen could not be displaced by an undocumented immigrant,” community colleges board chairwoman Hilda Pinnix-Ragland said.
The policy now must be reviewed by a state commission that reviews administrative rules. Written objections to the policy from 10 residents would send it to the General Assembly, which could block the liberalized admissions by passing a law. Democratic leaders in the state House and Senate would decide whether to take the issue to a vote.
