The University of California (UC) is facing a lawsuit over a January decision to ban undocumented immigrant students from working on campus.
group of petitioners sued The University of California Board of Regents argued Tuesday that a policy barring undocumented immigrant students from holding jobs on campus is “discriminatory.” The University of California Board of Regents adopted a policy in 2023 that would have allowed undocumented immigrant students to work on campus, but decided in January not to implement it, EdSource said. reported.
The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which prohibits hiring illegal immigrants, does not apply to employers in the state, including the University of California, the lawsuit claims. Petitioners, including undocumented students, argued that the policy had a “devastating” impact and limited the “promise of great academics” for students.
“More broadly, the people of this state are being deprived of the important contributions they could have made had the Regents' policies not unnecessarily stifled the academic aspirations of our students.” claims.
Migrants crossing the Rio Grande River and entering the United States at the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, wait along the border wall before boarding Border Patrol vans and arriving at U.S. Customs and Customs Enforcement for processing of their immigration and asylum claims. Surrender to Border Patrol Agents (CBP). May 11, 2023. (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP, Getty Images)
“First, the Regent's policy is an abuse of discretion,” the filing alleges. “Even where state authorities have discretion to determine policy, they must base their decisions on an accurate understanding of applicable law. Here, the Regents' student recruitment policy is a misinterpretation of IRCA. It is assumed that
The petitioners argued that the Regents' policies regarding employment practices also violate the Fair Employment and Housing Act's (FEHA) prohibitions on discrimination based on immigration status. The lawsuit says the University of California is not required by federal law or IRCA to adopt employment policies. (Related: New York City recruits college students to help illegal immigrants with asylum claims)
If the university employs undocumented immigrant students, it could face legal consequences, including “civil fines, criminal penalties, or disqualification from federal contracts,” said University of California System Chancellor Michael Drake. said in January, according to EdSource. Human resources faculty can be prosecuted if they knowingly engage in employment practices that do not comply with federal law.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom in September vetoed a bill that would have prohibited the state's public universities from disqualifying students based on their immigration status. The proportion of undocumented immigrant students enrolled at the University of California and California State University (CSU) each decreased by approximately 50% from 2016-2017 to 2022-2023. This is largely due to legal issues surrounding the DACA program.
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