University of California delays decision on allowing undocumented students to work on campus

The Board of Regents voted 9-6 to delay considering the plan until 2025 amid shouts of "Cowards!" from some in the audience. Before the vote, University of California President Michael Drake told the board that the proposed legal pathway for the student work plan was "not viable right now" and said implementing such a plan would carry "significant risk for the institution and for those we serve." He expressed concerns that the policy could put immigrant students at risk of criminal prosecution and deportation for working while lacking legal status. In turn, this would also put the university system at risk of fines and criminal penalties for employing them, potentially jeopardizing grants and other funding.

Reactions and Disappointment

Regents who opposed delaying the plan shared their disappointment and called it a missed opportunity for the university system to lead in the fight for the rights of immigrant students who don't have legal status. "We are taking a pause at a crucial moment on an issue that requires our commitment," said California Assembly Speaker Emeritus and UC Regent John A. Pérez. "If you stand and say this is the time for us to actually be bold, and take individual and institutional risks then you speak to a different sense of moral authority."

Potential Impact and Legal Challenges

The prestigious university system has more than 295,000 students, and the policy could benefit as many as 4,000 immigrant students who would have previously been allowed to work under DACA. The federal policy implemented by former President Barack Obama prevents the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children and was declared illegal by a federal judge in Texas in September. The judge’s ruling is ultimately expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, sending the program’s fate before the high court for a third time. UC's policy would also challenge a 1986 federal law prohibiting people without immigration status from legally working. For years, students without legal immigration status have attended University of California schools while paying in-state tuition.

Disappointment and Legal Theory

"I’m deeply disappointed that the UC Regents and President Drake shirked their duties to the students they are supposed to protect and support," said Jeffry Umaña Muñoz, UCLA student and leader at Undocumented Student-Led Network, in a statement. Ahilan Arulanantham, faculty co-director at the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law, called it "deeply shameful" that the regents refused to adopt the policy now. "Our legal theory, which we presented to the regents in October 2022, makes clear: the University of California has the legal right to authorize the hiring of undocumented students today," Arulanantham said.