Ralls: Immigrant decision not hasty

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.