California lawmakers passed first-in-the-nation legislation on Monday that would require public universities to hire undocumented students who lack work permits, sending Gov. Gavin Newsom a politically dicey proposal during an election year.
David Alvarez, a San Diego-area Democrat, introduced Assembly Bill 2586 in February in response to the University of California’s decision to reject a similar proposal.
The UC cited legal risks to the system and students, but was also privately pressured by the Biden administration not to move forward with the idea during his reelection campaign in which border security was a major vulnerability.
“We will be helping students who struggle every day to stay financially afloat as they are earning their degrees, really changing their lives,” Alvarez said on the Assembly floor Monday.
The legislation would apply to the nation’s largest four-year university system, the 23-campus California State University, as well as the largest higher education system in the country, the California Community Colleges. There’s still debate about whether it would apply to the UC, which has constitutional autonomy from the Legislature.
Newsom, a top Biden surrogate before the president dropped his reelection bid, appointed many of the 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 officials have this year continued to press for undocumented people to have greater access to government programs and services, including to state-supported home loans, even as some national Democrats have shifted rightward on immigration.
Universities would have to begin hiring the students — many of whom have been ineligible for employment in the U.S. since the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was frozen — by Jan. 6, 2025.
The UC hasn’t formally opposed the idea but has in legislative hearings and advocacy letters argued that the law could make both students and university employers criminally liable for participating in an illegal employment arrangement.
