Myrick: Comm. colleges should not admit

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:00:06 -0400

U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick wants immigration officials to clarify their position that illegal immigrants can be admitted to North Carolina's community colleges.

Myrick, who has made illegal immigration a key cornerstone of her work in Congress, wrote Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief Julie Myers last week that the federal law appears to disagree, Barb Barrett reports.

The statute, Myrick wrote, says that North Carolina would have to specifically pass a law allowing undocumented residents to be admitted to the colleges.

And even so, Myrick continued, the colleges could not allow in-state tuition.

Myrick's letter comes after a scuffle about whether community colleges can allow illegal immigrants as students. N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper wrote a memo saying they couldn't. The N&O asked the federal government for clarification and was told that the decision can be made on a school-by-school basis.

"I am concerned that ICE's stated position conflicts with the intent of federal law and undermines ICE's recent progress to enforce immigration laws," Myrick wrote.

She asked Myers, an assistant secretary within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, for a response.

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Myrick: Comm. colleges should not admit