By Teresa Watanabe
University of California regents declined Thursday to move forward on a bold plan to hire immigrant students who lack legal work authorization, crushing the hopes of thousands of young people seeking to escape precarious futures without adequate access to jobs and research opportunities.
UC President Michael V. Drake told regents he would not recommend a proposed plan to challenge federal law barring employment of those without legal status because the potential consequences were too risky to UC students, families and staff. UC students could be subject to deportation, employees could risk civil and criminal prosecution if they knowingly participate in hiring practices deemed impermissible under federal law, and the university could lose federal contracts and grants, he said.
A novel theory developed by UCLA legal scholars asserted that the 1986 federal law in question does not apply to states — or state entities such as UC — because the statute’s language does not explicitly mention them. Drake said UC would not test that theory at this time, although regents voted to reconsider the policy in one year.
Read more at: LA Times