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If North Carolina wants a clear policy for admitting illegal immigrants to community colleges and UNC institutions, the legislature needs to write it soon. All is confusion now.

The past week has seen this baffling series of events:

• The N.C. Attorney General’s Office advised the state community college system to reverse its six-month-old directive that "colleges should immediately begin admitting undocumented individuals."

• Gov. Mike Easley urged community colleges to keep enrolling illegal immigrants anyway.

• Both candidates for governor, Democrat Bev Perdue and Republican Pat McCrory, said they disagree with Easley and the community college policy.

• The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency contradicted the attorney general’s advice, saying federal law doesn’t prevent states from admitting illegal immigrants from public colleges and universities.

• The community college system announced it would follow the attorney general’s advice and, beginning immediately, "no longer admit individuals classified as illegal or undocumented immigrants into curriculum degree programs."

This fast-paced zig-zag traces the nation’s convoluted thinking about immigration. People cross the border illegally to find work, and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling says their children are entitled to free public education through 12th grade. Some states have decided it makes sense to allow those who qualify academically to continue their education in public colleges and universities, enabling them to find more meaningful employment and become contributors to society ... except that employers technically aren’t supposed to hire undocumented immigrants.

The community college system waded into this stew, but only up to its ankles. It counted no more than 112 undocumented curriculum-degree students enrolled in its 58 colleges this year, and all pay tuition at the out-of-state rate. Certainly, many more would follow if they were permitted, but that won’t happen without further legal review or a vigorous public debate.

JB Kelly, the general counsel who wrote the advisory letter on behalf of N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper, admitted some questions about the application of federal law are unsettled. But in an interview Monday, he expressed certainty that the state legislature has full authority to enact an open-door policy in regard to immigration status for the UNC and community college systems.

There’s not much chance that Raleigh politicians will solve the immigration riddles that stump the best minds in Congress. The state can’t deport illegal immigrants or grant them legal status. It has no choice but to educate their children through high school. But it can decide whether to grant or deny them a path to public postsecondary education. It’s time to straighten out the zig-zag quandary on the enrollment question.

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