Ark. AG says schools can admit illegal immigrants (UALR Public Radio) - Arkansas's public colleges and universities can admit illegal immigrants and aren't required to verify that potential students are in the country legally, the Arkansas attorney general's office said in an opinion Wednesday.

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said in an advisory opinion that schools don't have a duty to verify the citizenship status of potential students they admit. The state's higher education director earlier this year ordered schools to check the immigration status of potential students.

"It is my opinion in response to your specific questions that undocumented individuals may enroll in Arkansas' public colleges and universities and that such schools are not obliged to verify citizenship as a condition of enrollment," McDaniel said in the opinion, answering questions submitted by state Rep. Rick Green, R-Van Buren.

McDaniel's opinion, however, noted that there was nothing barring schools from making citizenship a requirement of admission to a school or from checking immigration status on their own.

2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. © Copyright 2009, UALR Public Radio