Solache's bill says California’s public college campuses cannot disqualify students without legal status from campus employment.
The UC, CSU, and community college systems enroll an estimated 60-thousand students without legal status. While these students can get state-backed financial aid, they’re ineligible for most federal grants and loans.
At a hearing earlier this year, Solache put it this way:
“While California has a long standing commitment to expanding access, affordability and student success in higher education, our undocumented students continue to face significant financial and structural barriers.”
This bill and previous pushback has been rooted in an untested legal theory. That theory says a 1980s federal law that banned employing immigrants without legal status did not directly mention state agencies.
Governor Newsom vetoed a similar proposal in 2024, partly out of concern the Trump administration would target participating universities.