Despite support by its administrators, the system also asked Attorney General Roy Cooper to review the policy.
On Tuesday, Cooper said lawyers in his office would look at state and federal laws, and at the letter that formed the basis for the policy.
“Our attorneys will research the law and hopefully will be back pretty soon,” Cooper said, declining to discuss his personal views on the policy. “I don’t know how long it will take, but we’ll take whatever time it needs to determine the current status of the law.”
Conservative groups and others who say they want immigration laws enforced, specifically those that bar undocumented immigrants from working in the country, have been strongly critical of the policy. Lancaster said that viewpoint “ignores the fact that thousands of them are working today in almost every field one can imagine.”
Democratic Gov. Mike Easley supports the policy. He said North Carolina is doing the best it can to respond to the failures of Congress and President Bush to pass a comprehensive immigration reform law.
“I don’t want any Undocumented Immigrants or otherwise in North Carolina,” Easley said Tuesday. “The only way we can stop that is for Washington to control the borders.”
The state community college board meets Thursday to decide on a successor to Lancaster, who announced his retirement last winter.
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