North Carolina immigration attitudes

The central issues of immigration and proper treatment of migrants are of central concern to North Carolina residents, exemplified in the attitudes and actions of many different state groups and institutions. With people and organizations ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the Ku Klux Klan to aspiring, socially conscious college students, many different perspectives concerning legal and illegal immigration arise. Racial relations, immigrant labor and the economy, and equal opportunity in education are just some of the issues facing North Carolina locals.

Illegal immigrants are becoming a significant portion of the North Carolina population. According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, illegal alien population is estimated at 405,000 in 2005. Condemning illegal immigration, they estimated in 2004 that the taxpayers of North Carolina spent $771.1 million per year on illegal aliens and their children in public schools.

This boils down the cost of each of the approximately 405,000 illegal residents of North Carolina to $1,903.95 in taxes annually. The North Carolina Tax Foundation states that "North Carolina taxpayers pay $3,663 per capita in state and local taxes … estimated at 9.8 percent of income." This means that if these inhabitants were made citizens and had North Carolina state and local taxes imposed on them, the state economy would benefit by $1,759.05 per person, or a total of about $712.4 million each year.

The portions of the illegal population that make it into the work force face many challenges in getting fair treatment. UNC-Chapel Hill senior Ivey Taylor, double majoring in Spanish and International Studies, spent last summer in an internship with Student Action with Farm Workers as a legal aid. His experiences firsthand look into the darker side of Hispanic immigration. "In a lot of migrant camps in North Carolina, they weren't even required to provide a mattress … up to 20 guys would have to share a bathroom." For them, it is nearly impossible to get health insurance, any type of credit, or even a place to rent. Aspiring ACLU member and long time retail manager Thomas Griffin has had experience working on construction teams with illegal immigrants. In Westchester county, N.Y., they made up more than half of the paint crew he was on. "Most of them could speak English well, because they're all trying really hard to make it," Griffin said.

Education is another area in which illegal immigrants are finding difficulties in North Carolina. In September of 2008, the State Board of Community Colleges agreed to spend up to $75,000 to study whether to admit illegal immigrants as students in their institutions. Former president of the North Carolina Community College System Martin Langcaster emphasizes that illegal immigrants admitted as students are in fact money makers for their community, as they do not qualify for financial aid or even in-state tuition. Some local students having difficulties getting financial aid don't think the money promised to the study was well spent. With the averae annual tuition for community college at $2,191 per year, as reported by the American Association of Community Colleges, te cost of the study was equivalent to the cost of tuition for 36 students.

Illegal students are only a small portion of those receiving less than adequate educational resources among minorities. In studies into these circumstances, the overty and Race Research and Action Council, in conjunction with the ACLU, concluded "that racial disparity in school discipline and achievement mirror racially disproportionate minority confinement."

It is undeniable that immigration and its implications are issues that stand forefront in the minds of American citizens. As education costs rise and the economy stumbles, North Carolinians are now more than ever concerned with the job market, and how both legal and illegal immigrants are going to affect it. This brings many people to many conclusions, such as the one Taylor arrives at, "People don't realize how this labor force is used to boost our economy, how important they really are. They try to make legislation to get immigrants deported, but once they're gone, the cost of those services (ones performed by immigrants) will skyrocket."