Hmmm. They won't be able to get credit, but they'll be bodies in the classroom. Guess this is designed to keep that faculty busy.....
College shows aliens the ropes. ping
A Jerry-Kilgore-doin'-good ping!
Sep 07, 2002
Advice on aliens given
Kilgore urges colleges to report, reject those with no legal papers BY MICHAEL MARTZ
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore wants Virginia's public colleges and universities to make sure all students have a legal right to be in this country and to report them to law enforcement officials if they don't.
In a memorandum to all state higher education officials, the attorney general's office said the law does not require foreign students to prove their legal status to enroll but advised institutions not to enroll students who don't have legal documentation.
"As a matter of policy . . . the Attorney General is strongly of the view that illegal and undocumented aliens should not be admitted into our public colleges and universities at all, especially when doing so would displace a competing applicant who is an American citizen or otherwise lawfully present here," wrote Assistant Attorney General Alison P. Laundry in an opinion sent to higher education officials throughout the state on Thursday.
Laundry also said the attorney general "strongly encourages" all school officials and employees to report any evidence of illegal aliens on campus, even though the law does not require it unless a foreign student is violating the terms of a lawful visa to study at the institution. However, the opinion adds, states cannot prevent public employees from reporting illegal aliens on their own.
The opinion is being greeted by college officials with a mixture of gratitude and uncertainty. Some welcomed the specific guidance in the opinion on how to determine whether a foreign student is eligible for lower, in-state tuition, which is subsidized by state taxpayers.
Illegal immigrants are not eligible for in-state tuition, the opinion states. Nor are some immigrants who are living in Virginia legally, but whose visas do not allow them to live in the state indefinitely. The opinion attempts to distinguish between visa categories that do qualify for in-state subsidies and those that do not.
"We welcome some specificity on some of these issues. . . . There's a lot for us to chew on," said Dr. Max L. Bassett, vice president of academic and student services at Northern Virginia Community College.
The college's five campuses serve the most ethnically diverse region in Virginia. Last year, between 8,000 and 9,000 foreign citizens were enrolled in the college, which registered about 39,000 students for the fall semester that just began.
Bassett said he is not sure how the institution will respond to the attorney general's advice on policing federal immigration laws. "They think we should disenroll [undocumented aliens] and report them," he said. "We have not made a decision on that." [sheesh]
The attorney general's opinion may have grown partly out of an incident at one of the community college's campuses this year. The college registrar denied an application to enroll from a foreign man whose immigration visa had expired, Bassett said. An observer reported the incident to the attorney general's office because the registrar did not report the man to law enforcement authorities.
"What is our responsibility? . . . We never look to do a citizen's arrest or anything like that," Bassett said.
However, Kilgore said in an interview earlier this week that he is concerned that some colleges and universities may not be cooperating fully with law enforcement and immigration officials because of concerns about student privacy and confidentiality.
"There is an obligation for colleges to exercise due diligence. . . . We believe they need to cooperate with law enforcement officials who come looking for information," he said.
The issue may come to the Secure Virginia panel appointed by Gov. Mark R. Warner to help prepare the state against terrorist attack. Kilgore, who is chairman of the government operations subpanel, proposed this week to establish a standard for all colleges and universities in reporting criminal offenses to law enforcement authorities.
The General Assembly adopted a law this year that requires colleges and universities to report to the attorney general if a foreign student is not complying with his or her visa requirements by not enrolling in the institution or attending classes. The attorney general passes the information to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service for enforcement.
Congress has imposed a similar requirement in federal law to take effect in January. The INS also has tightened its regulations to prevent anyone on a six-month visitor's visa from enrolling as a full-time student in a college or university in the United States.
Richmond Times-Dispatch