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Undocumented students in California’s higher education system may soon be able to get a job in California’s public universities and colleges.
California would become the first state in the nation to employ undocumented college students without legal work permits, pending a signature from Gov. Gavin Newsom. The landmark legislation, Assembly Bill 2586, passed the state legislature in a final 41-7 assembly vote last month. As of this writing, the governor — who has not stated a position on the bill — has until the end of September to sign or veto it.
The legislation would stop the University of California, California State University and their affiliates, and California Community Colleges, from barring students from being hired for jobs due to the lack of federal work authorization — which is often the case for students who have parents who immigrated to the state.
Advocates have argued that the legislation would dramatically alter the careers and the lives of the thousands and thousands of undocumented immigrant students who are working toward, or have, an impressive, expensive postsecondary education.
Priscila Fuentes is one of those students. Fuentes, who is set to begin her senior year as a scholarship student at the University of California, Riverside, this fall, is majoring in education, society, and human development with a minor in political science.
Both of Fuentes’s parents are from Mexico, where she was born. She moved to California with her parents at age two and “can’t remember anything about” the move.
One journey
Like many other students, Fuentes has had to find ways to keep her spirits up. In her case, she started volunteering in the university’s Undocumented Student Program her sophomore year, which ended up leading to something good: she took out a $4,000 loan via the California Dream Act, which is for undocumented students; later, a $7,200 scholarship from the USP Butterfly Project ended up paying the loan off.
While that’s good, it’s only part of solving the puzzle. “That doesn’t always happen,” she says. “And that doesn’t mean that it’s enough money to go towards paying off fees” or for regular living expenses.
“I’m putting my time and energy into my education and volunteer efforts and living on campus on my scholarship and financial aid,” she says. “But there are still more expenses for basic needs, such as transportation and food.”
Those emotions are well understood by Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy.
If the bill is signed into law by Newsom, “there will be an enormous opportunity for undocumented students in all California state colleges and universities to pursue an education with their documented peers as well as open employment opportunities” with the state educational system, says Arulanantham.
That’s in stark contrast to today’s rules, where “there are no jobs that are open to undocumented students,” he says, including academic jobs that “are very important to undergraduate students, such as being medical residents or teaching assistants.
“It’s almost impossible to complete your degree in some programs if you can’t work as a teacher’s assistant, for instance, because offers are rescinded for undocumented students,” says Arulanantham.
That issue has become a roadblock for students who want to work in the bookstore, the cafeteria, and elsewhere on campus, says Arulanantham, “to make ends meet.”
When those doors are closed, undocumented students usually have to look elsewhere to earn money. “The school’s service workers can still work on the underground economy, but we should not encourage doing so if we can avoid it,” he says, adding that those jobs tend to be unlawful, exploitive, far from the campuses, and don’t pay well.
Dual rules
This situation is equally upsetting for many members of the faculty and staff.
“As a UCLA professor, I would love to have the opportunity to treat all of my students the same way,” says Arulanantham. “I don’t like teaching in a system that gives some students more opportunities than others.”
He adds that he wants to see undocumented students accepted and operating on equal footing with their peers.
That’s especially true, he adds, since colleges and universities accept tuition money from any student they enroll. “The colleges and universities really ought to allow them to work. It’s not like they’d offer two tiers of tuition money” given the disparity in employment opportunities, he adds.
“The money,” says Arulanantham, “is green from both sides.”
Dr. Jennifer Nájera, an associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Riverside, says that the employment issue has been ongoing on the national level since 1982 — when the U.S. Supreme Court case, Plyler v. Doe, held that states cannot constitutionally refuse students a free public education based on their immigration status.
“That did not extend through to the colleges,” says Najera.
It was in 2001 that California AB540 allowed undocumented students to pay in-state tuition, which was a huge win. “However, the tuition keeps going up so that’s been a step back for that demographic,” says Najera. “And there was also the issue of not having work permits.”
Then came 2012 and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. “What we saw with DACA was the impact of giving these kids work permits,” says Nájera. “Today, they’re working in various industries, like teaching, medical, dentistry, law — and these people often set up businesses and take jobs in underserved communities.
Another step forward came in 2013 with the passing of the California Dream Act, which made undocumented students eligible to apply for state financial aid. But then in 2016 came President Donald J. Trump’s administration and its less tolerant immigration policies. “At that point, people who had protection under DACA could keep it,” says Nájera, “but now the problem has happened all over again.”
However, there’s a difference today. “We know it works” says Nájera, “and we also know that we’re not creating another underclass and that documenting these workers lifts all ships.
Enacting AB2586, she says, “looks like the next logical step in this movement.”
Fed failure
That’s the feeling of California Assembly member David Alvarez who introduced the legislation last February. He says the idea for the bill came “from the failure of the federal government regarding immigration policy, especially when it comes to young people who often come here as infants.”
This population, says Alvarez, needs to be acknowledged and affirmed. “They know no other country than the U.S. We recognized them 20 years ago in California with AB540, which has been successful,” he says. “I think that everyone agrees that children should learn without barriers.”
But there have been failures, he says, in that Dreamers are not always protected by DACA, which he notes is no longer in place. So, some students don’t automatically qualify. “But I think we can all agree that educating these students is important, though they may not be eligible for employment,” he adds.
Newsom appointed many of the University of California (UC) governing board members who, in January, declined to test federal law by hiring students without work authorization. He has not publicly taken a position on the legislation.
“California is a large state, so that’s hundreds of thousands of residents, a large number of whom are enrolled in the public colleges and universities,” says Alvarez, who noted that he is hopeful that the proposed legislation will soon become law.
From the president
Dr. Michael V. Drake, who recently announced that he would be stepping down as president of the University of California at the end of the 2024-2025 academic school year, said that UC is not necessarily opposed to the legislation. He has said that UC has been looking at ways to expand undocumented students’ access to equitable educational employment experiences, including launching a new fellowship program that provides experiential learning opportunities and financial support to undocumented students.
UC officials have expressed concern about the exposure of undocumented students and their families to the possibility of criminal prosecution or deportation; the possibility of employees involved in the hiring process being subject to criminal or civil prosecution if they knowingly participate in practices deemed impermissible under federal law; civil fines, criminal penalties or debarment from federal contracting if the university is in violation of the Immigration Reform and Control Act; and the potential loss of billions of dollars in existing federal contracts and grants that are conditional on IRCA compliance.
However, those arguments do not pass muster at the UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy, among other supporting groups.
“I think the university’s concerns are misguided,” says Arulanantham. “If the university were required by law to create equal opportunities for all its students, any opposition would be targeted at the law itself, rather than at the University for complying with it.”
Hopes, dreams
Meanwhile, Fuentes “feels optimistic” about AB2586, even as its fate is squarely in Newsom’s hands. Still, she acknowledges the issue is a contentious one for some, particularly during an election year. “Someone will always see an issue with about anything, so this feels like a cat-and-mouse game,” she says. “I feel like if we get it, someone is going to try to take it away.”
“What’s even more frustrating is that on our résumés, we look perfect, and we undocumented students are typically doing more to enhance our educations than students with legal status because we feel like we have to,” says Fuentes.
If AB2586 becomes law, Fuentes and those who share her circumstances and concerns say that life will become a bit easier for them and that they’ll be able to exhale.
“It will feel like a little hope was poked in a giant bubble, that will give us a breath of fresh air,” says Fuentes.