DACA Pressure

The delayed regental review of the proposal to allow UC to hire undocumented students is under added pressure from the possibility that DACA employees of UC (who do have work permits) may lose their right to work legally. From EdSource:

...DACA offers temporary protection from deportation and permission to work for about 579,000 young people who were brought to the U.S. as children and graduated from high school, completed a GED or are veterans of the U.S. military. Every two years, recipients must apply for renewal. But the program could end at any time. It was found to be illegal by a federal judge in Texas, and that case will likely end up in the Supreme Court...University of California estimates it has more than 400 employee recipients, some of them students...

The program, launched during the Obama administration, has long been associated with high school and college students, but most recipients are now working adults. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has not accepted new applications since 2017, making the youngest DACA recipients currently 21 years old, and the oldest, now 42.

...University of California officials are currently examining ways to support employees if the temporary deportation protections are terminated, according to UC Office of the President spokesperson Stett Holbrook. He added that the UC Immigrant Legal Services Center offered immigration consultation workshops for recipient employees last summer, “many of which identified eligibility for employment, family or humanitarian relief.”

“The University of California has a long record of support for DACA recipients, and we will continue to support our students, staff and faculty regardless of their immigration status,” Holbrook said.

The University of California is also currently considering a proposal to allow the university to hire students who do not have work permits under DACA. A coalition of immigrant students and allies, including legal scholars at UCLA and elsewhere, have argued that a federal law barring the hiring of immigrants living in the country without permission doesn’t apply to state entities...

Full story at https://edsource.org/2023/faculty-staff-urge-california-colleges-to-make-backup-plans-in-case-daca-ends/702129.