newsobserver.com projects - Ralls: Immigrant decision not hasty - Comments

Re: Ralls: Immigrant decision not hasty

Isaac136 — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:25:14 -0400

I can't believe Ralls thought this was going to keep anyone from filing a bill at the GA. Maybe he himself wants to run for something sooner rather than later. In any event, his effort to suggest that Cooper's advisory letter left him no choice is ridiculous.

Re: Ralls: Immigrant decision not hasty

MeckDeck — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:54:29 -0400

Can someone please ask Ralls or someone how many TOTAL undocumented students there are among the over 800K enrolled?

Nuther not small point: There is no residency requirement of any kind for the continuing education classes undocumented students can still take. This means that citizens who pay state income taxes pay the exact same fees to take the classes -- which include vocational stuff like forklift operation and certified bank teller classes -- as illegal aliens who do NOT pay income taxes anywhere to help support the system.

JAT

Re: Ralls: Immigrant decision not hasty

Cdickson — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:21:48 -0400

http://campaigntracker.blogspot.com/2008/05/democrat-clodfelter-disafilliate-me.html

Ralls: Immigrant decision not hasty

janestancill — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:12:04 -0400

N.C. Community College System leaders checked and rechecked with the Attorney General's office before barring illegal immigrants from admission, System President Scott Ralls told the community college board Thursday.

Ralls walked through the events of the past few days with the board Thursday, reports Mark Johnson of The Charlotte Observer.

Ralls received an advisory letter from Attorney General Roy Cooper's office last week indicating that their reading of federal law was that the state could not admit undocumented students. The letter was the result of a request for guidance from the community college system.

"Their opinion was not black and white," Shante Martin, the system's top lawyer, told the board.

So community college officials went back to lawyers in the attorney general's office to clarify: "Is this your advice?" Ralls said during his first board meeting as the system's new president.

The next day, news stories quoted U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials saying the opposite, that federal law did not require a ban.

Again, the community college leaders turned to Cooper's office."They indicated they would stand by their advisory letter," Ralls said.

Now the system awaits more guidance from the federal government. "We have become the poster children of why there needs to be federal clarification on these issues," Ralls said.