immigration

Dr. Munger sent me this by email early last week. It ran in the Durham Herald on Wednesday. I think this piece presents a fascinating and liberating view of immigration. What do you think?

I think immigrants should be able to attend community colleges. But then maybe that's because I myself am an immigrant.

Well, not really. I should say I come from a family of immigrants. My ancestors had the surname "Mancgere," or "merchant" in Anglo-Saxon. They moved from County Surrey, England, and settled in the Guilford Colony, near New Haven, Connecticut. Nicholas Munger apparently owned land there beginning in 1651.

What in the world is a sheriff's department doing wasting tax-payer money to arrest, prosecute and deport law abiding, working, contributing people who've been in this country since they were toddlers and know no other home or culture.

I can totally understand deporting folks who've landed in jail because of criminal activity. That makes perfect sense. But honest to God, I personally think this is ridiculous. These kids are American, in every respect. They are not Mexican. My daughter has a friend in this situation. They've grown up here and all they know is this home, this school system, this town, these friends. And they are good kids.

Via the Citizen, this week's Letter from the Editor:

I was in the Triad the other day visiting with some fellow media types including blogger Jon Lowder, who related an incident he’d happened upon while returning from a recent visit to Pittsboro.

Lowder encountered a traffic stop on N.C. 87 just inside the Alamance County line. After watching the sheriff deputies and highway patrol checking licenses and looking over the cars, Lowder said it was apparent that the law was interested in vehicles with Hispanic occupants and not much interested in anyone else.

Laura Leslie has a story I missed. A good case for IQ testing sheriff candidates.

Recent data shows more unlicensed drivers on NC roads since the state stopped giving licenses to illegal immigrants. The N&O's Kristin Collins has the story - and like her story last week, this one features an angry local official, too.

"It's about high time that the DMV make it more strict," said Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell. "We have bowed down. You go to DMV now and everything is Spanish, and people are tired of it. This is America."

This is that time in the cycle (short session in a federal election year) when people run bills through the General Assembly for purely political purposes. Case in point: Sen. Robert Pittenger, who is running for Lt. Governor, has introduced the NC Citizen Protection Act. It includes about everything you'd think, most of which have already been ruled unconstitutional. I think a more accurate title might be the Permanent Exploited Underclass Act. It would probably criminalize most churches.
But it's a big bill and in some venue there'll be a discussion and the senator will have his campaign ad that talks about how he's protecting us from the hordes.
Stand by for more heroics.

A while back I thought Roy Cooper was a pretty solid citizen. I contributed to his campaign and even helped drum up support in a couple of fundraising events. But that was then.

Cooper's decision last week to intervene in the debate over undocumented immigrants and higher education was just plain dumb, as has been widely discussed. But it's hard to understand why he has to get all petulant just because the mean old media won't play stenographer for him. That's flat-out embarrassing.

North Carolina's Community Colleges have just announced that they are closing their doors to undocumented students.

The Adelante Education Coalition and 83 community organizations are calling for the state of North Carolina to continue allowing the undocumented immigrants to attend our state's public universities and community colleges. A press release from the Adelante Education Coalition about this issue is below.

We're looking for allies to help us with our advocacy efforts. You can learn more about the roles you can play at the Adelante website. My organization, Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate, is part of the Adelante Education Coalition. I will be going to the state capitol on May 27 to talk with legislators. Let me know if you'd like to join in.

In 1795, the great state of North Carolina opened the first public institution of higher learning.

In 2008, we may become the first state to take away access to post-secondary education from an entire class of people.

Yesterday, Attorney General Roy Cooper's office issued an advisory statement that says our state's community colleges and universities should close their doors to the children of undocumented immigrants.

The AG's statement is based on the same kind of moral reasoning that southern states used to withhold public education from blacks and women. It uses a tenuous interpretation of federal law to exercise a state's rights argument, knowing full well that this state will not give undocumented immigrants the right to an education.

McHenry uses tax payer money to misrepresent his stand on Illegal Immigration and other issues.

Mr. McHenry’s close friends and neo-conservative allies like Tom DeLay, Carl Rove and Dennis Hassert are now gone from Washington, leaving a bad smell behind them. Suddenly Mr. McHenry wants us to believe he has helped Veterans and that he has always been against Illegal Immigration.

Welcome and thanks to Steve for posting this. Frontpaged. A.

On Christmas Eve, the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP weighed in on the issue of undocumented immigrants’ access to higher education. The NAACP joined together with the Adelante Education Coalition for a joint rally and press conference.

Standing on the steps of the NC Community College System administrative building, NAACP President William Barber called upon the leaders of our state to open the doors of higher education. Calling it his Christmas message, Rev. Barber asked the question “Is there no room in the inn?”

Here are the first few minutes of Rev. Barber’s message.

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