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A teenage sex offender was removed from a custodial treatment facility because he's an illegal immigrant and no one would pay.

The question of who gets to enroll in community college has sparked more debate, but this case touches on bigger concerns. Public safety is at stake.

The juvenile, identified as "D.G." in court proceedings, admitted to a first-degree sex offense in Burke County three years ago. He was 15. The victim was a 5-year-old boy.

A District Court judge ordered D.G. placed in a residential sex-offender treatment program run by the Burke County Department of Social Services. County officials worried about the $128,000-a-year cost, but a counselor for the N.C. Department of Juvenile Justice assured the court that state funds were available despite D.G.'s status as an illegal alien.

A few months later, D.G.'s case was back in court. The county had been advised that D.G. was not a "qualified alien" under federal law and could not receive government funds for residential treatment. The judge revised his order, this time committing D.G. to a state youth development center indefinitely, but not past his 19th birthday.

The Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court's ruling, although Judge Jim Wynn dissented. Case records did not include evidence that D.G. was ineligible for treatment, Wynn wrote.

The case can be appealed to the state Supreme Court, which might have grounds to overrule. A 2007 article by Jill Moore, associate professor of public law at the Institute of Government in Chapel Hill, noted that federal law prohibiting services for "nonqualified aliens" allows exceptions for mental-health treatment and programs "necessary for the protection of life or safety." Trying to defuse the impulses that led D.G. to sexually attack a 5-year-old child ought to qualify. Besides, how can public funds cover the cost of incarceration at a youth development center but not a treatment facility?

William Lassiter, a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Juvenile Justice, said treatment for young sex offenders has a good chance of success. While the department can offer limited treatment, he added, "A youth development center is not the best placement for a kid with mental-health disorders."

Yet, state law gives the department the option of asking the court to allow placement in an appropriate treatment facility. That apparently was not done in this case.

Another option, because D.G. has turned 18, might be to turn him over to federal authorities for possible deportation. Lassiter declined to say whether the Department of Juvenile Justice would do that. Nor is there any guarantee of deportation anyway.

The matter of D.G. is complicated and confusing, but cases like this should be handled with the public interest in mind. For a juvenile sex offender, the best course is to provide treatment in hopes his dangerous behavior can be corrected. Immigration status should not be considered. Denying treatment on the grounds that D.G. didn't have a legal right to live

in this country didn't make sense because D.G. was living here, and it would be foolish to assume that would change.

It's clear the courts didn't know what to do with D.G. Does anyone? The state should find some answers, with public safety in mind.