Gavin Newsom vetoes a first-in-the-nation attempt to employ undocumented students
SACRAMENTO, California — California’s public university campuses will not be opening campus jobs to undocumented students after Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected legislation to create such a mandate.
The Sunday veto avoids legal and political risks as it crushes the hopes of immigrant rights activists who have suffered a string of defeats this year.
The Democratic governor in his veto message said immigrant students’ access to higher education opportunities is “important for local communities and California’s economy,” but he warned of legal risks.
“Given the gravity of the potential consequences of this bill, which include potential criminal and civil liability for state employees, it is critical that the courts address the legality of such a policy and the novel legal theory behind this legislation before proceeding,” Newsom wrote in his veto message.
Newsom has previously supported services and rights for undocumented Californians, including the expansion of the state’s health insurance system to include all eligible undocumented residents.
But he has now vetoed two proposals in short succession, including legislation that would have opened up state-supported home loans to undocumented people, as former President Donald Trump hits Vice President Kamala Harris over progressive California policies and immigration on the campaign trail.
The governor’s decision means thousands of students will continue to seek under-the-table pay at off campus jobs, compete for paid fellowships or forego income altogether as they complete their coursework. Undocumented students in California receive financial aid but many have been unable to work on campus since a federal judge closed applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2021.
“The federal government has failed Dreamers and failed on immigration reform,” Democratic Assemblymember David Alvarez, author of the bill, said in a statement after state lawmakers passed his legislation.
Progressive legal scholars and student activists last year sought to ease those restrictions at the University of California system, host to prestigious campuses including UC Berkeley and UCLA. They argued a federal law banning employment of undocumented people does not apply to state governments such as public universities.
University leaders questioned that untested legal theory and decided against allowing campuses to hire the students — at least until after the election. They publicly cited legal risks to employers and students, but officials also told POLITICO the Biden administration had privately pressured them not to proceed at a time when the president’s reelection campaign was taking hits over the border. The UC’s governing board members — many of them Newsom appointees — ultimately postponed discussion of the idea until January of 2025.
Democratic state lawmakers attempted to override the decision, introducing legislation a month later that in its final form sought to require the University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges to offer jobs to undocumented students. It was unclear, however, whether Assembly Bill 2586 would have applied to the UC, which has constitutional autonomy from the Legislature.
UC leadership had also considered seeking declaratory relief on the issue, essentially asking a court whether the system could hire the students before proceeding. That step was unpopular with activists who worried that option would prevent students from ever being hired, but Newsom in his veto message again floated having the UC go that route.
“Seeking declaratory relief in court — an option available to the University of California — would provide such clarity,” he said of the legal ambiguity surrounding the issue.
University leaders never formally opposed the legislation, but their lobbyists warned legislators that it could expose their systems to lawsuits and make undocumented students and the people hiring them vulnerable to criminal prosecution.
“Unfortunately, AB 2586 does not protect our undocumented students or employees from prosecution, nor does it protect the University from the risk of potentially losing billions in federal dollars,” UC Legislative Director Mario Guerrero wrote in a letter to the state Senate Appropriations Committee in July. He added, “We would welcome working with the author and Legislature on other legal options to support these students.”
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