California Democrats Pushing Bill to Require CSU, UC and Community Colleges to Hire ‘Undocumented Noncitizens’

Why are Democrats working so hard to replace Californians with illegal immigrants?

Earlier in the year, the University of California Board of Regents smartly voted to halt a plan to allow illegal immigrant students to apply for jobs on campus. The law is extremely clear, as Department of Homeland Security officials specifically warned UC that they could be facing administrative action or a lawsuit should they continue their efforts.

Notably, There are 44,000 undocumented college students in California, including nearly 4,000 enrolled in the UC system.

“Since October 2022, undocumented student leaders in the University of California (UC) system have pushed forward an ‘opportunity for all’ campaign aimed at expanding opportunities and protections for illegal immigrant students,” the Globe reported in January 2024. “In May of last year, they scored their first major victory, when the UC Board of Regents announced that they were in favor of removing hiring restrictions for undocumented students.”

Never letting a [border] crisis go to waste, California Democrats are fast tracking a bill to require the hiring of illegal immigrants at the University of California, California State University and California Community College systems.

Assembly Bill 2586 by Assemblyman David Alvarez (D-Chula Vista) would require California’s colleges to hire “undocumented noncitizens,” as Alvarez said in his bill. That’s about as contorted as “undocumented residents.”

AB 2586, the “Opportunity for All” bill “would allow students equal access to campus job opportunities, regardless of immigration status at the University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges,” Assemblyman Alvarez’s website states.

This is the actual language used in Alvarez’s AB 2586:

This bill would prohibit a the University of California, California State University, or California Community College campus Colleges from disqualifying a student from being eligible to apply hired for an employment position at the campus due to their failure to provide proof of federal work authorization, except where that proof is required by federal law or where that proof is required as a condition of a grant that funds the particular employment position for which the student has applied.

This bill would provide that, for its purposes, each campus of the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges is are required to treat a specified prohibition in federal law on hiring unauthorized aliens undocumented noncitizens as inapplicable because that provision of federal law does notstate that it applies apply to any branch of state government. The bill would further provide that, to the extent student employment is considered a “benefit” for purposes of federal law, the bill constitutes authorization to provide that benefit for purposes of specified federal law.

Carl DeMaio, chairman of Reform California and a candidate for State Assembly noted that Democrats have fast-tracked passage of AB 2586 – it has already passed the Assembly by a 59-4 vote and now heads to the State Senate. Here’s that vote:

DeMaio criticized the bill for incentivizing illegal immigration.

“By passing a law to mandate that illegal immigrants be hired for taxpayer-funded jobs in state government, California Democrats are not only making our border crisis worse, they are openly violating federal employment laws that prohibit the hiring of illegal immigrants!” said DeMaio.

“This outrageous proposal should be rejected immediately! Not only is it offensive to force taxpayers to fund government jobs for illegal immigrants, it opens these illegal immigrants – and state government managers who hire them – to the risk of federal prosecution for violating federal employment laws,” he continued.

The bill’s Assembly Floor Analysis claims, “The state has demonstrated a commitment to undocumented students by qualifying them for state aid programs that help make college more attainable.”

However, the analysis admits there are problems with the proposal:

“The UC does not have a position on AB 2586, but did send a letter of concern. In their letter they identified numerous potential issues that could come with hiring undocumented students. These include:

1) The exposure of UC’s undocumented students and their families to the possibility of criminal prosecution or deportation;

2) The possibility of employees involved in the hiring process like faculty, human resources, and legal professionals being subject to criminal or civil prosecution if they knowingly participate in practices deemed impermissible under federal law;

3) Civil fines, criminal penalties, or debarment from federal contracting if the UC is in violation of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA); and

4) The potential loss of billions of dollars in existing federal contracts and grants that are conditional on IRCA compliance.”

The California Community College Chancellor’s Office weighs in and says that it is unclear to the CCCCO if local community college districts can even be considered “state entities.”

The UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy claims that “when Congress passed IRCA, they did not curtail states’ historic power to determine the employment qualifications of state employees,” so “hiring undocumented persons does not bind state government entities.”

Assemblyman Alvarez said “California has the opportunity to continue to serve as a model for the rest of the Nation. By allowing undocumented students to be eligible for work opportunities, California will ensure all students have equal access to the opportunities they need to provide financially for themselves and work to obtain their degrees. Only then can our state truly maintain its status as an economic powerhouse and the place where the nation’s future is invented.”

However, Assemblyman Alvarez never once acknowledged the fact that taxpayers are funding this vast illegal immigration experiment, nor did he consider that California students should be prioritized for any CSU, UC and Community College campus jobs.

Notably, Carl DeMaio says he is running for State Assembly to help fight bad bills like AB 2586 and work to secure the border. His plan includes a proposal he calls the “California Secure Borders Initiative,” which would do the following:

• Deploy the CA state guard to the border
• Repeal the Sanctuary State Law
• Immediately revoke recently-approved state and local funding for several state welfare programs for illegal immigrants – including taxpayer-funded health insurance and legal defense programs.

To read the many bills passed by the California Legislature on behalf of illegal immigrant students, here is the April Assembly Higher Education Committee analysis, starting on page 3: