Undocumented students fight back. They sue the UC system for discriminating against them by denying them jobs

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On Tuesday, a group of UCLA alumni accused the government of discrimination by denying them jobs based on their immigration status. This decision comes after California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have allowed undocumented students to work on UC campuses.

“Undocumented students deserve the right to work, to dream, to continue contributing to this society. They shouldn’t be punished; they should be respected and live their lives like any other student,” Jeffry Umaña Muñoz, one of the plaintiffs and one of the two co-chairpersons of the Undocumented Student-Led Network at UCLA, told Parriva in an interview with Parriva.

“We will continue to fight, no matter what Newsom has decided. We are not going anywhere,” he added in the interview.

They are seeking a court order requiring the system to consider undocumented students for on-campus jobs.

“Losing these opportunities forced me to extremely precarious and dangerous living situations, always moments from housing and food insecurity,” Umaña told the LA Times. The suit argues that federal law barring the hiring of undocumented people does not apply to public universities. A UC spokesperson said on Tuesday afternoon that the university system had yet to be served with the filing but will respond as appropriate when served. The suit is being coordinated by the Opportunity4All campaign, which led the charge behind Assembly Bill 2486, or the Opportunity for All Act, this year .