Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Sunday that would have directed the University of California, California State University and state community colleges to hire undocumented students for campus jobs — his second veto of legislation aimed at expanding aid to those who are not living in California legally.
The action crushed the hopes of tens of thousands of students who were brought illegally to the United States as children and have not been able to obtain work permits to help finance their educations or qualify for research and teaching jobs critical to their academic programs. An estimated 55,000 undocumented students in those straits attend California public colleges and universities; the state is home to a 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 legal risks to state employees who could be deemed in violation of federal laws against hiring undocumented people.
“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,” 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 moving to hire undocumented students.
Both UC and CSU had expressed concerns about the bill, saying it could cause them to run afoul of a federal law that bars employers from hiring undocumented people — putting at risk their students, their employees who would hire them and billions of dollars in federal funding. UC receives more than $12 billion in annual federal funding for research, student financial aid and healthcare. 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 over the humanitarian stakes, legal risks and potentially explosive politics. Illegal immigration is a top issue in the 2024 election amid a tight presidential contest between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump.
Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, co-sponsored a bill in March cutting off federal funding to universities that hire undocumented people — and he specifically blasted UC as a “left wing” institution bent on a “lawless” scheme.
Newsom’s veto of AB 2586 marked the second time this month that he nixed 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 program run by the state.
Both bills had the support of most legislative Democrats, who argued that California should do more to help undocumented immigrants because they contribute to the economy and pay taxes. They were opposed by Republicans who argued that California should prioritize funding services for citizens, and said providing aid would encourage more immigrants to enter California illegally.
The bills presented a difficult decision for the Democratic governor in this presidential election year. If he sided with his party’s base and supported more aid for undocumented immigrants, Newsom risked bringing attacks on Harris, a fellow California Democrat.
“It would be impossible to not have California act on these and have this be part of the 2024 election cycle,” said Mike Madrid, a GOP political consultant and expert in Latino politics.
He noted that Harris has taken a more conservative position on immigration than most Democrats by backing a bipartisan border security bill that failed after Trump came out against it. Passage of the legislation in California could have complicated her efforts to win moderate voters in battleground states, Madrid said.
“Kamala Harris is trying to prevent these attacks,” he said. “She is trying to inoculate against these attacks by running on the most conservative border security position of a Democrat probably ever.”
Even within the UC system, some critics of the bill feared that Newsom would have handed Republicans “red meat” against Democrats had he signed the bill.
Despite Newsom’s veto, UC vowed to continue supporting undocumented students. The university supplements state grants and private scholarships with such resources as university legal aid and fellowships that offer hands-on learning with grants of up to $7,200.
Undocumented students were given a lifeline under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — better known as DACA — which granted work permits and protection from deportation to certain youth who were brought to the United States as children. But many students could not obtain that status because then-President Trump rescinded the program and, during the Biden administration, a court order froze all petitions.
Students who do not have DACA protections now outnumber those who do. Among an estimated 86,800 undocumented students in California, only 37% are recipients of DACA or are eligible for it. Each year, 14,000 more undocumented students graduate from California high schools, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal.
They draw widespread sympathy and support even as attitudes toward illegal immigration have hardened. A July Gallup poll showed the majority of Americans wanted immigration reduced, the highest share in two decades. But 81% favored allowing those brought to the U.S. illegally as children the chance to become U.S. citizens if they meet certain requirements — including 64% of Republicans polled.
In 2022, UCLA scholars presented a potential path forward for the students by crafting a novel legal theory that asserts the federal ban on hiring undocumented people does not apply to states because they are not specifically mentioned as employers subject to sanctions in the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. Before that law, the legal analysis notes, the U.S. Supreme Court established that Congress must use “unmistakably clear” language if it wants to regulate state governments.
Scholars at the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law developed the theory and 29 immigration and constitutional scholars — including Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law — signed on as backers.
Students and their supporters launched a statewide campaign to prod UC and other public colleges to embrace the theory, test the law and hire the students. But UC, after consulting with multiple law firms and legal experts inside and outside UC, declined to do so, concluding there were too many legal risks. Their concerns were rooted in precedents by the U.S. Supreme Court and others that established federal supremacy over conflicting state laws in immigration matters.
While regents shelved action on the issue in January, Assemblyman David Alvarez (D-San Diego) pressed forward with the bill, winning overwhelming support for it in the Assembly, 63 to 7, and the Senate, 31 to 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 campus job opportunities due to their failure to provide proof of federal work authorization.