Lawyer: Community colleges must admit eligible illegal immigrants

RALEIGH (AP) — North Carolina’s community colleges must accept illegal immigrants as long as they are 18 years old and high school graduates.

The new policy reverses a rule that gave campuses the option to say no.

In a memo earlier this month, a lawyer for the community college system told colleagues the change was needed to fall in line with a 1997 opinion by then-Attorney General Mike Easley.

More than half of the 58 community college campuses already allow illegal immigrants to enroll.

The state system says about 340 undocumented students currently attend class. They must pay out-of-state tuition rates.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)