Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday vetoed a bill that would have ordered the University of California, California State University and state community colleges to hire undocumented students for on-campus jobs — his second veto of legislation aimed at expanding aid to those not living in California legally.
The move dashed the hopes of tens of thousands of students who were brought to the United States illegally as children and have been unable to obtain work permits to help finance their education or qualify for research and teaching jobs that are central to their academic programs. An estimated 55,000 such struggling undocumented students attend California's public colleges and universities; the state is home to one-fifth of the nation's undocumented college students.
Despite California’s “proud history” of expanding educational opportunities for undocumented students, Newsom said he was vetoing Assembly Bill 2586 because of the legal risks to state employees who could be found in violation of federal laws against hiring undocumented people.
“Given the seriousness of the potential consequences of this bill, including 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,” he said in his veto message.
Newsom said UC and others could seek clarity first by asking a federal judge to rule on the bill’s legality before proceeding to hire undocumented students.
Jeffry Umaña Muñoz, a graduate student at Cal State LA, said undocumented students were disheartened by the ban but would continue to fight for the opportunity to work as a movement that is “unashamed, unafraid, and unstoppable.”
“We are ashamed and dismayed that Governor Newsom has decided to cave to Trump and Republicans’ anti-immigrant vitriol and deny us the equal opportunities we deserve,” she said in a statement on behalf of all undocumented students in California.
Both UC and CSU had expressed concerns about the bill, saying it could put them at odds with a federal law that bars employers from hiring undocumented people, putting their students, the employees who would hire them and billions of dollars in federal funding at risk. UC receives more than $12 billion in federal funding annually for research, student financial aid and health care. The system is the largest recipient of federally sponsored research ($3.8 billion last year) among U.S. higher education institutions.
The bill had drawn national attention for its humanitarian implications, legal risks and potential political firepower. Illegal immigration is a top issue in the 2024 election amid a tight presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump.
In March, Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, co-sponsored a bill cutting federal funding to colleges that hire undocumented people, specifically criticizing UC as a “left-wing” institution bent on a “lawless” agenda.
Newsom’s veto of AB 2586 marked the second time this month that he vetoed legislation to expand services to undocumented immigrants. Earlier this month, he vetoed a bill that would have allowed undocumented immigrants to apply for interest-free home loans through a state-run program.
Both bills were supported by a majority of Democratic lawmakers, who argued that California should do more to help undocumented immigrants because they contribute to the economy and pay taxes. Republicans opposed them, arguing that California should prioritize funding services for citizens and that providing aid would encourage more immigrants to enter California illegally.
The bills posed a difficult choice for the Democratic governor in this election year. If he sided with his party’s base and supported more aid for undocumented immigrants, Newsom risked provoking attacks against Harris, another California Democrat.
“It would be impossible for California to not act on this and have this be part of the 2024 election cycle,” said Mike Madrid, a Republican political consultant and expert on Latino politics.
Madrid noted that Harris has taken a more conservative stance on immigration than most Democrats by backing a bipartisan border security bill that failed after Trump spoke out against it. The passage of the legislation in California could have complicated her efforts to win moderate votes in battleground states, Madrid said.
“Kamala Harris is trying to prevent these attacks,” he said. “She’s trying to protect herself against these attacks by running for the most conservative border security position a Democrat has ever held.”
Even within the UC system, some critics of the bill feared that Newsom would have handed Republicans “red meat” against Democrats if he had signed the bill.
In a statement released Sunday, UC said it believes undocumented students should have access to the resources and opportunities, including jobs, that all other students enjoy, and pledged to continue supporting them. The university supplements state grants and private scholarships with resources such as university legal aid and fellowships that offer hands-on learning with grants of up to $7,200.
“This is a complicated situation and we recognize that the Governor relied on his veto in light of concerns that federal law would prohibit the University from hiring undocumented students and that implementation of this law could put our students, faculty, staff, and important federal funding at risk,” UC said. “The University will continue to support our undocumented students, including by expanding access to opportunities that allow them to gain valuable experiential learning and financial support.”
UC did not say whether it would ask a federal judge to rule on the legality of hiring undocumented students, saying only that it would “continue to explore all options.”
Undocumented students were given a lifeline by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which granted work permits and protection from deportation to certain young people who were brought to the U.S. as children. But many students were unable to obtain that status because then-President Trump rescinded the program, and during the Biden administration, a court order froze all petitions.
Currently, the number of students who do not have DACA protections outnumbers those who do. Of the approximately 86,800 undocumented students in California, only 37% are DACA recipients or eligible for it. Each year, 14,000 more undocumented students graduate from California high schools, according to the Higher Education Immigration Portal.
A new UCLA study has found that the number of new low-income undocumented students on UC and CSU campuses dropped by half between 2015-16 and 2022-23. The study attributes the decline to the increasing difficulty in obtaining DACA status.
The students inspire widespread sympathy and support, even as attitudes toward illegal immigration have hardened. A Gallup poll in July showed that a majority of Americans wanted immigration reduced, the highest share in two decades. But 81% favored allowing those who came to the U.S. illegally as children the chance to become U.S. citizens if they met certain requirements, including 64% of Republicans surveyed.
In 2022, UCLA scholars presented a potential path forward for students by crafting a novel legal theory that the federal ban on hiring undocumented people does not apply to states because they are not specifically named as employers subject to sanctions in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Prior to that act, the legal analysis notes, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Congress must use “unequivocally clear” language if it wants to regulate state governments.
Scholars at the UCLA School of Law's Center for Immigration Law and Policy developed the theory, and 29 immigration and constitutional experts—including Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law—joined as sponsors.
Students and their supporters launched a statewide campaign urging UC and other public universities to adopt the theory, test the law and hire the students. But UC, after consulting with several law firms and legal experts inside and outside UC, declined to do so, concluding there were too many legal risks. Their concerns were based on U.S. Supreme Court precedents and others establishing federal supremacy over conflicting state immigration laws.
Although the regents shelved any action on the issue in January, Assemblyman David Alvarez (D-San Diego) moved forward with the bill and won overwhelming support in the Assembly (63-7) and the Senate (31-8). They plan to take up the issue again next January.
The bill would have prohibited UC, CSU and California community colleges from disqualifying any student for on-campus job opportunities because they do not provide proof of federal work authorization.
