Hope for Dreamers: Undocumented Students Push for Jobs at University of California

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After a setback in the Supreme Court of the country and the decision of a federal judge in Texas to classify DACA as an illegal program, hope has emerged for undocumented youth known as ‘Dreamers’.
A coalition of undocumented student leaders and some of the nation’s top legal scholars is proposing that California, a state that has served as an incubator for progressive policies on immigration, begin employing undocumented students at the 10 University of California campuses.
The proposal, which almost certainly would face significant political and legal challenges, calls for the state to defy current interpretations of a 1986 federal immigration law that prohibits U.S. employers from hiring undocumented immigrants, according to the NY Times. But a new legal analysis drafted at the University of California, Los Angeles, and reviewed in some of the nation’s top law schools argues that the law does not apply to states.
Similarly, Microsoft, Apple, Meta and dozens of other Fortune 500 companies launched an ad campaign Thursday to push Congress to pass a new law that would secure the fate of migrants known as “Dreamers,” part of a last-ditch effort to save the protections as federal courts seem likely to end the executive order that has protected them since 2012.
Undocumented student leaders from U.C.L.A. presented a letter to the president of the University of California, Michael V. Drake, on Wednesday, formally proposing that the university system begin hiring undocumented students for a range of jobs, including as research and teaching assistants and paid interns.
“At the University of California, students who cannot access DACA are being systematically denied opportunities afforded to their classmates, including employment opportunities that would enhance the research, education and public service mission of the university,” the letter said.