I attended part of last week’s public hearing on a proposed rule change to allow the admission of illegal immigrants to North Carolina Community Colleges. For the better part of an hour I heard teachers, students and former community college officials say education is a right (it’s not) and how North Carolina can’t turn it’s back on these children ( Last I checked, according to the NC Comm. College System, the average age of a community college student in North Carolina was 32). From what I understand, there were only a handful of individuals who spoke out against the proposed rule. Most notably, Ron Woodward of NC Listen and Bill Gheen of Americans for Legal Immigration.
While the event was technically listed as a hearing, the timing was certainly curious. It was known last August that a hearing had to be held for the proposed rule. Why wait four months and schedule it for the Friday before Christmas? Not unless you’re trying to influence the turnout and generate support on one side or the other. A late December meeting would maximize the opportunities for students and teachers to attend, since many are already done with semester exams. Most everyone in the working world hase their days planned. Moreover, most have a few other things to do the week before Christmas.
Does the turnout for Friday’s hearing represent what North Carolina thinks about illegal immigration? Hardly. A February 2008 Civitas DecisionMaker Poll, showed 68 percent of voters opposed community colleges admitting illegal immigrants. Similar immigration questions in other polls have produced nearly identical levels of opposition.
Last month Civitas Institute crowned our “Bad Bill of the Year“. More than 10,000 votes were cast for 32 “Bad Bills” in a March Madness style tournament. What “Bad Bill” caught the ire of voters? SB 848, sponsored by Senator Charlie Alberston (D-Duplin), would allow illegal immigrants to enroll in North Carolina’s community colleges and universities.
If you think North Carolinians favors the admission of illegal immigrants, think again. Rulemaking is oftentimes the last refuge of those who lack the votes to get a bill passed. Take note citizens, November 2010 is less than a year away.
Despite the rolling up of the illegal alien welcome mat by North Carolina’s Sheriffs with the 287 (g) program, criminal activity associated with illegal immigration continues to rise in the Old North State. Officials with the NC Department of Motor Vehicles report a 20% increase in arrests for driver’s license fraud over last year and 2009 is not over yet.
While fake ID’s used to be found mostly on college campuses, today’s ID counterfeiters have more to worry about than getting underage kids drunk. As employers begin to use the E-Verify program in greater numbers, illegal aliens have turned increasingly to identity theft get jobs in North Carolina.
The North Carolina General Assembly has made efforts to tighten ID’s issued by the state. Last year they removed the manufacture of driver’s licenses and identifications from satellite DMV offices around the state and centralized the operation at one secure location. Additionally, the DMV stopped accepting ID ’s issued by the Mexican government back in 2004 that resulted in long lines at the DMV before the change went into effect.
ID theft is real in North Carolina and is yet another result of becoming a magnet state for illegals.
Well, the alien themselves obviously benefit from coming to this country illegally but who else receives benefit from the violation of US sovereignty?
Illegal immigration is BIG money. Mexico’s 3rd highest source of income behind oil and offshore US manufacturing comes from illegals working in the US. $24 Billion was sent from the US to Mexico in 2007. $24,000,000,000 is a LOT of money.
And, just as carrion rotting on the side of the road will attract vultures for an easy meal, illegal aliens with the collective earning potential of $24 Billion also attract vultures of the human variety.
The business of getting illegals across the border is also very lucrative. The predators that move humans north are known as “coyotes” and are just as dangerous as their four legged namesake. Coyotes charge thousands of dollars to bring someone to the US.
When they don’t get their money, coyotes hold their human cargo hostage until the man’s family or friends can come up with the money. All of this sorted business was brought back into the spotlight this week when a van carrying 16 illegals was stopped by the NC Highway Patrol in Kannapolis after receiving a 911 call alleging that the drivers of the van had kidnapped a man when his family didn’t have enough money to pay his “fee.”
The two “divers” have been charged with human trafficking. Their company, Transportes Amigos has been caught at this before but is somehow still in business and riding up and down US highways.
(Sidebar: Ever wonder why vans are just 15 passenger? More passengers requires a commercial driver’s license (CDL) by the USDOT so there’s another potential charge.)
In addition to the obvious human suffering this story reveals is the much more troubling fact tucked away in the latter part of the article. Illegals in the van weren’t all from Mexico or even Latin America. One was listed as coming from Ethiopia. How hard would it be for a middle eastern terrorist to use a coyote to come to North Carolina? When this happens, will they carry out their attacks on sanctuary cities first?
Two members of the North Carolina House of Representatives from Gaston County have announced their opposition to the recent policy decision by the NC Board of Community Colleges to admit illegal aliens. Representatives Pearl Burris-Floyd and Wil Neumann, both Republicans, plan to introduce legislation when the General Assembly returns to Raleigh in May of 2010 to prohibit illegals from attending community college. (HT:Cory Friedman of Freedom Newspapers’ Gaston Gazette has a great story on the situation.)
Neumann gets it right on the funding angle:
“It will be a hot issue,” Neumann said, “but I think in these tough budget times, to ask the citizens of North Carolina who are out of work to continue paying for illegal students is unacceptable.”
Despite what the consultant’s report tried to lead us to believe (that admitting illegals was profitable for the colleges), Neumann knows that the taxpayer pays a considerable amount for the community colleges. Just 12% of their revenue comes from tuition.
Best line of the article:
“We must uphold the law of the land, and if we fail to do that, we are encouraging a lawless environment,” said Burris-Floyd. “In a lawless environment, no one is protected.”
The sad thing is that this bill was already filed during the long session this year and never received even a hearing despite Governor Perdue’s stated opposition to the policy of admitting illegals. Will the legislative leadership allow a vote on the bill this time? Not likely. The fix is in and the deck is stacked so don’t bet on it.
What exactly passes for leadership in our state these days?
Apparently, taking a stand that 70% of the people of NC agree with, yet using none of your power as the top two elected officials in North Carolina to enact it.
Gov. Bev Perdue and Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton both agree with a majority of North Carolinians that illegal immigrants should not be allowed in our community colleges, yet neither tried to stop the board from approving the new policy despite the fact that one of them appoints half the board and the other serves on it.
In what can only be seen as an act of political expediency (or extreme cowardliness, if you will) neither Perdue nor Dalton lifted one finger to try and stop the enactment of a policy they are supposedly opposed to.
Did Perdue make phone calls to board members threatening them that they will not be reappointed if they didn’t vote the way she wanted? Nope. But she darn well made sure she was quoted correctly in the paper and on TV of her opposition to the policy.
Did Dalton make an impassioned speech at the meeting laying out the case why this was a bad idea? Nope again. He “was silent before the vote” according to the N&O. He then had his aide hand out a written statement and quickly slipped out the back door
So there you have it folks, that’s what we have for leadership in our state. No longer can she say she is “Perdue, like the chicken.” She can now wear that name proudly.
There are many compelling reasons why North Carolina should not allow community colleges to admit illegal immigrants. I spell out a few of those in an op-ed piece published in this morning’s News & Observer. (For more articles on illegal immigration: click here.)
While the case for the rule of law and defense of our borders makes sense to many of us, others fail to grasp the significance of what’s at stake. Today the Policy Committee of the State Board of Community Colleges System unanimously approved a rule change to allow community colleges to admit any “undocumented immigrant”. The committee action was taken despite protestors who gathered outside the building and polls that show 68-70 percent of North Carolina voters consistently oppose policies to allow illegals admission to community colleges.
The full board will vote on the proposal tomorrow. I’d be surprised if the rule to allow colleges to admit illegals was not adopted. Hope that common sense will prevail is growing dim.
On the eve of a presidential speech on why we need NObamacare, some more numbers have emerged.
A recent Rasmussen survey has found that the issues of illegal immigration and healthcare reform are starting to impact one another.
“The desire to limit the benefits to U.S. citizens is found across demographic and partisan lines. It is held by 95% of Republicans, 70% of Democrats and 87% of those not affiliated with either major party. It is favored by nine-out-of-10 conservatives and moderates, along with 56% of those who consider themselves politically liberal. But 32% of liberals hold the opposite view.”
How much longer can the NObamacare crowd leave this unaddressed. And, oh yeah, if you don’t put enforcement measures in the bill with real teeth, then you haven’t fixed the problem, Robert Gibbs.
I have seen it all, now. When a Congressman won’t let a constituent speak at a town hall until he checks their ID, what have we come to? Northern Virginian Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA) did just that at a town hall on Obamacare KennedyCare this week. (Unfortunately for him, the camera was there too.)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljAg770W_-k
Now, you might say that this is just an isolated incident. Wrong, it get worse. Congressman Eugene Green (D-TX) required ID’s to be checked at the door to be admitted to the town hall he had two weeks ago.
Aren’t these the same guys that vote against voter ID at the polls on election day?
(So its OK for anybody to vote in an election without proof of identity but we can’t let them ask their congressman a question?)
This got me to thinking about whether this any ID provisions in the Obamacare bill. NRO says no:
“While there is language in the House bill requiring that their incomes be verified, there is no requirement that their identity or citizenship be confirmed before they receive taxpayer-subsidized health benefits. I guess it is just too much to ask that the federal government check citizenship status (as private employers are required to do before hiring an employee).”
Just another case of “Do as I say, not as I do.” I wonder why all of those people at the town halls are so mad?
It wasn’t easy to find much in the way of reporting on yesterday’s State Board of Community Colleges’ Policy Committee meeting discussing the pros and cons of lifting the ban on the admission of illegal immigrants. No report in this morning’s News and Observer, and nothing on WRAL either. A brief segment on WNCN-TV was the only coverage I found.
My guess is many on the Board were pleased. In my view, the Board has been looking for ways to rescind the ban since last August when it said it will “study” the issue. In April, a consultant’s report laid out what it considered the board’s main options. One of the options listed was to admit illegal immigrants but to charge out-of-state tuition (about $7,000), that way the state couldn’t be charged with actually subsidizing the education of illegal immigrants.
According to the few news reports I’ve heard, this looks like the option now favored by the Policy Committee. This isn’t the place to lay out why it’s wrong to reduce this issue to an economic arguement. However even if we do talk costs, there are many reasons why this option is still bad policy. For starters, it is incorrect to saythere is no subsidy. Approximately, 70 percent of the funds NCCCS receives are from state appropriations. State funds are used for such programs as academic and student services, economic and workforce development programs and other programs which support and enrich the entire institution. Only about 13 percent of community college revenue derives from tuition. In addition, the analysis mentioned above also fails to include capital costs. The fact is, local communities are responsible for building and maintaining all community college facilities. To ignore these costs is a slap in the taxpayers’ face.
The full board will meet on Friday, when it will review the recommendations of the policy committee. Interesting, seems to me this issue was taken up about a year ago at the same time. Friday afternoon in the middle of August? You think the Board might be trying to keep this decision off the radar?
If you’re interested in other articles by Civitas Institute staff on illegal immigration in North Carolina, click here.
Well, it has been seven months since the inauguration of BHO and he has finally gotten around to gutting the 287g program. As used by seven North Carolina counties (Alamance, Cabarrus, Cumberland, Gaston, Henderson, Mecklenburg and Wake) the program authorizes sheriff's staff to interview any person booked into their jails to determine if they are lawfully present.
If they are found to be illegal aliens, they serve their local time and are them turned over to the feds for deportation.
The Obama administration has rewritten the agreements with the counties and now turns more illegals loose back into North Carolina. The Charlotte Observer ran the story but left out some of the more damning details (naturally). But not to worry. Representative Sue Myrick's Chief of Staff, Hal Weatherman calls the unObserver on the carpet at his blog.
Here's the quick and dirty:
"This past week, the Mecklenburg 287g program and all other similar
programs nationwide were presented with a revised Memorandum of
Agreement by the Obama Administration.
The MOA says that local
287g programs like Mecklenburg and Gaston are no longer to turn over to
ICE "minor offenders" who happen to be illegal. Specifically, the MOA
says that no illegal alien without a prior criminal conviction will be
deported. The key words here are "prior criminal conviction."
Why would BHO turn illegals loose? Maybe he needs more of them here so they can be counted in the "uninsured" catagory. Good catch Hal. I'm glad somebody is watching.