News-Record.com

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"It's kind of a micro-macro issue. On the micro level, every governor in the country ... every state is doing what we're doing except for 10 states who are allowing in-state tuition. California, Texas, just look at those two, and the reason that they're doing it is they have such as huge immigrant population that they know they cannot afford not to have them educated or they'd kill their economy and ruin their state.

"On the larger picture, I think people are angry and I don't think that's necessarily inappropriate. Because here's what people are looking at: we got globalization that's taking all my jobs away and free trade agreements that aren't well negotiated and are not being enforced. Now, they know that. They may not know what's in them, but they know they're not working for them. And this stuff about oh, it's going to work out in 30 years doesn't help you when you're trying to make the house payment on the 15th of the month...

At the same time, there's a lot of anxiety about the American military being bogged down and perceived to be ineffective that most people had not heard about five years ago. They figure if we can't do this what can we do? So, there's insecurity there.

At the same time they're seeing the country can't control the boarders and we have 13 million illegal immigrants coming in and laws that aren't being enforced and can't be enforced for the most part because of court decisions.

So all these things come together and people get angry and ask 'Can't we do anything right?' And they don't stop to think is Washington not doing their job, who ought to be closing these boarders? It's all about "they." So they see something like an illegal getting an immunization shot, and they get mad about that until they finally realize, 'Well, if they get small pox, my kid is going to get it too.'

Then they see the college and say, "Wait a minute, that's my tax dollars, and I didn't go to college.' Most people in North Carolina did not go to college and don't. So they feel like these people are getting something they shouldn't be getting and we're paying for it and they don't understand why it's happening like this and quite frankly I don't either. I'm mad about it. I don't want illegal immigrants in North Carolina, I don't want anything illegal in North Carolina.

But then the problem is, you've got it, so what do you do with it. And that is the question that all these gubernatorial candidates are going to have to deal with once one of them is elected and the future of the country and the state depend on an educated workforce.

"Now, I think if you were to close the boarders, get control over your boarders, say, alright nobody else is coming in here and we've got 13 million that are here. Everybody knows it's a cop out to say we're going to take 13 million people, go find all of them and throw them back over the fence. That's not going to happen.

"If you got control of the boarders, Washington would at least do that, people would deal with the immigration problem rationally. But right now, they're not willing to do anything until they can see the spigot cut off. They don't see any way to bail a boat with that many holes in it...."