On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 2586, a bill that would have allowed undocumented students to work campus jobs at public universities.
The bill had a long list of supporters that included the University of California system, but the University of Southern California did not publicly support the bill.
Diana Cervantes, co-executive director of the Undocumented Trojans Student Assembly (UTSA) and a senior majoring in business of cinematic arts, said that she often feels unsupported by the university with this being just the latest example.
“Since USC is a private institution, they’re not required to follow state laws, I think that’s their little loophole of going around and saying like, ‘Oh, we don’t have to abide by those laws,’” Cervantes said. “It’s still very disappointing as an undocumented student knowing that the institution has the means to create a center for us or just providing more resources, and their lack of support is just disheartening.”
She called Newsom’s decision to veto the bill, “very frustrating” and said undocumented students often hit a wall once they get to college after realizing just how much their status will affect them and stop them on the road to their dreams.
“The whole point of higher education is you study and then practice what you’re studying and hitting that reality that whatever you’re studying is not truly attainable, and having to shift gears based on your status,” Cervantes said. “[It’s] very eye-opening to the realities that we face.”
California owes a lot to its immigrants, Cervantes said. One of the reasons California has one of the largest economies is because of its immigrant population and workforce, a fact Newsom highlighted earlier this year in his proclamation for Immigrant Heritage Month.
“I would just like more support for the undocumented community and having people understand the implications of what it means to be undocumented,” Cervantes said. “Once immigrants thrive, the rest of California also thrives, and it’s just very frustrating knowing that we had a sense of hope and that was taken away from us.”
It wasn’t surprising that Newsom vetoed the bill, Niels Frenzen, the co-director of the Immigration Clinic at the Gould School of Law and a clinical law professor, said in an interview with Annenberg Media earlier this week.
“Newsom is being cautious for a variety of reasons,” Frenzen said. “He’s thinking about his political future. And this is a controversial topic.”
Even if Newsom had signed the bill into law, it wouldn’t have established a way for undocumented students to work at USC. The bill relied upon a legal argument that federal immigration law does not apply to state and local governments, including the UCs, but because USC is a private entity, students would still be unable to work, he said.
In his veto message, Newsom cited the “potential criminal and civil liability” for state employees as a reason for his decision.
Frenzen said Newsom’s rationale was a way for the governor to avoid the political consequences of signing the bill into law.
“That’s a facade,” Frenzen said. “His veto message is a bit of a cop-out, but again, bottom line, it’s not shocking what happened, which is unfortunate.”
In response to Newsom’s veto, the California Undocumented Higher Education Coalition (CUHEC) said in a statement that it was disappointed by the result, noting that it would have helped undocumented students form connections and supported the state’s growing need for a workforce.
“Now more than ever, the state must keep the promise of a college degree as a door to economic opportunity and prosperity,” the statement said. “We remain committed to ensuring California leads the way in providing equal opportunity for all students across the state.”
At USC, Cervantes said UTSA was going to continue to question the administration about why undocumented students don’t have resources dedicated to them and their continued success.
“UTSA will continue to fight for immigrant rights and just bringing more advocacy on campus, and hopefully having more allies on campus and having people understand what it means to be undocumented,” Cervantes said.