Los Angeles—they went to U.S. schools, spent their childhoods in U.S. neighborhoods, and were raised American in every way except for one—brought into the country as children by undocumented parents, They have no legal authority to reside in any US state.
Political and legal turmoil over the Childhood Arrivals Deferral Program, a federal program that has protected many of them from deportation since 2012, has led to thousands of immigrants, known as the so-called Dreamers. left. Likewise — with legal ambiguity. Federal law makes it illegal to employ illegal immigrants, and under the law many of these young immigrants end up finishing college and working under the table as nannies and construction workers. .
Now the state of California, which has served as an incubator for progressive immigration policies, is proposing to start hiring illegal students on 10 campuses of the University of California.
This proposal would almost certainly face significant political and legal challenges and oppose the current interpretation of the Federal Immigration Act of 1986, which prohibits U.S. employers from hiring illegal immigrants. to the state. But a new legal analysis drafted at the University of California, Los Angeles and reviewed by top US law schools argues that the law doesn’t apply to states.
It is supported by Erwin Kemerinski, Dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Adam B. Cox of New York University School of Law. Constitutional and immigration scholars at Cornell University, Stanford University, Yale University, and among other colleges, the notion that people in the country can be illegally employed in state jobs is the third largest by the UC system. Employers, California, and the vast population of 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States.
UCLA’s leader of non-regular students submitted a letter Wednesday to University of California President Michael V. Drake, urging the university system to begin recruiting non-regular students for a variety of jobs, including research and teaching assistantships and paid jobs. formally proposed. Intern student.
Understanding DACA (Deferred Action for Child Arrivals Program)
“At the University of California, students without access to DACA are systematically denied opportunities offered to their classmates, including employment opportunities that enhance the university’s research, teaching, and public service mission,” the letter said. increase.
California, the state with the largest illegal immigrant population in the country, should defy federal immigration controls, issue driver licenses to all state residents regardless of immigration status, and charge illegal students college tuition in the state. We have a history of providing Most recently, it became the first state to offer state-funded health care to all low-income people. Several cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, have declared themselves “sanctuary cities” that will not cooperate with federal efforts to deport illegal immigrants simply because of their immigration status.
Hiring undocumented students would go a step further and invite legal challenges from immigration opponents, most likely opening the door to potential conflict with the federal government. has pledged to provide permanent DACA protection and the legal work permits that this program provides for illegal youth.
Congressional negotiations over a law to produce a solution for the group have gone nowhere for two decades, and attempts by the Biden administration to strengthen the DACA program have been thwarted in court, according to a recent court ruling. , those already registered with DACA are permitted to maintain their protection, but no new registrations are permitted. So there’s a growing class of young immigrants, many of whom are now college students, who don’t have the same rights as older dreamers.
The number of young immigrants who grew up in the United States but do not qualify for DACA is growing at a rate of 100,000 each year. In California alone, more than 44,000 undocumented college students cannot apply. An additional 27,000 graduate from state high school each year.
Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of UCLA’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy, said he started hearing from faculty last year about the worsening problem with the growing number of undocumented students without DACA protection. As a research assistant or in other campus work.
Alranantham’s team has already concluded that federal laws banning the employment of illegal workers are not binding on states, and has begun hearing sessions with academics across the country to examine why.
26 experts agreed, a legal analysis that when Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 in 1986, it did not curtail its historic powers to determine who states could employ. The legal scholars also concluded that the Supreme Court had no power to regulate state governments in certain areas, such as employment, without “clear words” to allow it. He also noted that he repeatedly found that Congress had no authority.
“The proposal was hidden in plain sight,” Al-Ranantham said. “For nearly 40 years, state agencies thought they were bound by a federal ban on hiring undocumented students when they really weren’t.”
Conservative immigration experts questioned the legal argument, saying that implementation of such proposals would only encourage unauthorized immigration.
“Under the law, it is illegal to hire unauthorized foreigners, and for good reason. Job opportunities are the biggest driver of illegal immigration,” said the conservative Heritage Foundation border security and said Laura Reese, Director of the Immigration Team and former Deputy Chief of Staff for Homeland Security.
But UCLA’s legal group quickly found support within the university community.
“Some of the best students in my career are undocumented students. Instead, it has a negative impact on the university as a whole,” said Kent Wong, director of the UCLA Center for Labor, a research arm focused on organized workers and workers’ rights.
Among them is a 22-year-old public policy graduate student named Karely Amaya. He is one of the undocumented campaign organizers.
“There is a window of opportunity here.
“I have a job offer on the table. If I win, I can be hired to pay for my studies,” she said in an interview. “Meanwhile, I’m barely surviving. I’m piecing together resources.”
Providing students with the ability to work at a university does not protect them from deportation or change their legal immigration status. It is also too early to tell how the president of UC, the presidents of individual colleges, and the board, the governor-appointed body that oversees the system, will accept the proposal.
But Arulanantham said he hopes all of California’s public universities, and eventually other states, will adopt the technology.
Student organizers said they plan to mobilize undocumented students at all 10 UC campuses to attend board meetings and push the issue to the UC president’s staff. I was. They said the campaign would also target local and state elected officials who could put pressure on UC leadership.
Given the ongoing legislative impasse over DACA and other immigration laws, undocumented student leaders said seeking solutions at the state level was the only viable strategy. rice field.
“As we continue to fight for permanent solutions, what are the changes we can make?” said Jeffrey Umanha. Muñoz, 20, is an undocumented student leader who was brought to the United States from El Salvador when he was two years old.
After being accepted into Harvard and Yale, in addition to UCLA, he chose school in California. But without the ability to work legally, his teaching experience would be diminished, he said.
“We know DACA is coming to an end, Congress will not take action and Biden will not take meaningful action on immigration, so this campaign came at the right time for us. rice field.