Legislature unlikely to bar illegal immigrants from college
Published: Mon, Jun. 16, 2008 01:55PM
Modified Mon, Jun. 16, 2008 01:58PM
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closeBills that would definitively bar illegal immigrants from the state's community colleges appear to be headed nowhere, state legislators said Monday.
Sponsors of two separate bills on the topic say they don't expect them to be heard as the session heads toward a close.
"I don't think there is sufficient interest among the Democratic leadership in the General Assembly to address this issue at this time," said Sen. Phil Berger, an Eden Republican who is sponsoring one of the bills.
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Rep. George Cleveland, a Jacksonville Republican who is sponsoring the other bill, agreed.
"If it gets to the floor it will pass," he said of his bill, which would exclude illegal immigrants from community colleges and universities. "But the leadership controls what gets to the floor."
Both legislators said they were not satisfied with a new policy adopted by the Community College System which denies illegal immigrants access to degree-seeking programs.
They said that if the bills don't pass, they will bring them up again in 2009.
kristin.collins@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4881
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