"It is left for the school to decide whether or not to enroll" illegal immigrants, said a statement released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "The Department of Homeland Security does not require any school to determine a student's status."

The statement joined a chorus of voices -- including one from an immigration hardliner -- disputing the advice that the state Attorney General's Office offered this week to the Community College System. An advisory letter from the attorney general recommended that the colleges stop admitting illegal immigrants because a federal law appeared to require it.

"The attorney general is all by himself," said Josh Bernstein, of the National Immigration Law Center in Washington, D.C., which advocates for poor immigrants. "Nobody believes that the law says this. Nor has anyone ever brought it up, including the authors of the legislation."

Lawsuits elsewhere in the nation have challenged the policy of offering in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, but no suit has argued that it is illegal simply to allow undocumented students to seek degrees, several immigration law experts said.

The handful of illegal immigrants who attend North Carolina's 58 community colleges and 16 public universities must pay out-of-state tuition, which the schools say more than covers the cost of their instruction. Officials at the Community College System released a new estimate Friday, saying a recent survey showed that only 112 of 297,000 degree-seeking students were illegal immigrants. The University of North Carolina system says 27 of its 200,000 students are here illegally. Most of those who are college age arrived in the United States as young children, accompanying their parents.

The letter from the office of Attorney General Roy Cooper, released Wednesday, said that federal code listed post-secondary education as a benefit to which illegal immigrants are not entitled. It said that unless the state passes a law expressly allowing illegal immigrants to attend its colleges, admitting them might not stand up to a court challenge.

The letter also acknowledged that the law on the matter is "unsettled" and advised the colleges to seek advice from the Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for the law's enforcement.

Clarification provided

Federal immigration officials provided clarification Friday at the request of The News & Observer. The statement says that, although illegal immigrants are in danger of deportation and possible criminal prosecution, schools are not required to use immigration status as criteria for admission. They also do not have to report students who are in the country illegally, except those who have student visas and are registered with the Student Exchange and Visitor Program.

Officials in Cooper's office responded with a brief written statement, saying that this week's letter "advises that the [Community College] System can rely on the Department of Homeland Security for guidance."

The letter has become the target of scrutiny from immigration advocates and lawyers across the country.

Several said the attorney general's advice defied their understanding of the law, including Mark Krikorian, head of a national group that advocates for a crackdown on illegal immigration.

"I've never heard anyone say that before," said Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., of the idea that federal law prohibits illegal immigrants from attending public colleges. "I've never understood that to be the case."

No public benefits

Michael A. Olivas, a professor at the University of Houston Law School in Texas, said he has studied in-depth the section of law referenced in the North Carolina letter, written by general counsel J.B. Kelly. Olivas said the law is written to ensure that illegal immigrants don't get public benefits such as welfare, disability payments and college scholarships, which take money from state coffers.

Olivas said the law does not control who can be admitted to a university.

"The federal government doesn't get to tell the state of North Carolina what it can do with its admissions," Olivas said.

Some lawyers disagreed. Mike Hethmon, general counsel for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a Washington group that has sued states who offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, said he thinks North Carolina's interpretation of the law is correct.

Hethmon said he has never filed suit against a state for admitting immigrants, but he would be willing to file such a suit if he found the right plaintiff. Right now, he said many states are simply disregarding federal law on admissions.

"There's a pervasive sense of impunity," Hethmon said, "and it's quickly reaching a boiling point."

Gov. Mike Easley on Thursday challenged the opinion from Cooper's office. But other state leaders said Friday that they agreed with the advice.

State Rep. Paul Stam, a Republican from Apex who is a lawyer, said he read the law and agreed with the interpretation of the Attorney General's Office. Stam said he will ask Cooper to sign the letter himself and make it a formal opinion that can be cited in future legal cases.

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