Students erupted in screams of anger, sadness, and despair when the UC regents announced their decision to postpone the Opportunity for All proposal that would make undocumented students without work permits eligible for university employment. 

On Jan. 25, the UC Regents voted on a motion to “suspend the implementation” of the Regents Policy 4407 for a year. In a ten to three vote, with one regent abstaining, they passed the motion. In 2023, the UC Regents voted to move forward with Opportunity for All and develop an implementation plan. It is unclear if they plan to proceed with the Opportunity for All campaign after the year is over. 

“It was very heartbreaking,” UC Santa Cruz student Anahi Matias Santiago said. “If this would have passed, it literally would have changed our lives. We could have worked to get basic necessities, our food, pay for our meals […] and so being able to work would have granted me a little bit more security.” 

The Opportunity for All coalition is made up of UCLA law professors and student advocates who found a legal loophole that would allow undocumented students to work on campus. Their proposal states that “under governing U.S. Supreme Court precedents, if a federal law does not mention the states explicitly, that federal law does not bind state government entities.” 

This refers to a 1986 federal law preventing employers from hiring undocumented people. They propose the UC System has the authority to override the federal prohibition on hiring undocumented people because California is not specifically listed, meaning state institutions are exempt.

In the days before the UC Regents vote, students in support of the Opportunity for All campaign had gone on a three day hunger strike to highlight the necessity of job opportunities for undocumented students. 

Alma Esperanza Villa Loma, Anahi Matias Santiago, and Juana Alvarez Ortiz are UCSC students part of a newly founded club called Improving Dreams, Equity, Access, and Success (IDEAS). Their mission is to support undocumented students pursuing higher education. The three supported the Opportunity for All proposal, and Loma and Santiago attended the meeting in person to show support. 

At the meeting, UC President Michael Drake announced the regents “concluded that the proposed legal pathway is not viable at this time.”

President Drake said the Opportunity for All proposal “carries significant risk for the institution and for those we serve […] We must avoid exposing our students and family to possible prosecution, deportation, or anything that might change their immigration status.”

He said UC Regents will continue to look into options for employing undocumented students as new information is provided.  

Students pointed out the time-sensitive nature of the decision.

“We can’t wait a year,” said Juana Alvarez Ortiz, “We cannot wait a year to support our families, to eat, to pay our bills, to pay rent, to pay tuition, to pay school fees, to pay [for] our books.”

In 2023, a statement released by President Drake and Board of Regents Chair Richard Leib read, “The University is committed to ensuring that all students, regardless of their immigration status, can pursue and attain a world-class UC education. This should include providing enriching student employment opportunities to all students.”

Alvarez Ortiz called this decision “hypocritical” and recalls hearing another student scream “you lied to us.” 

“In a sense they did,” she said. “I feel like [they were] just leading us on and making us think there was going to be an implementation, that they were going to consider the plan that we gave.”

This announcement comes as protections through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are increasingly targeted in courts. DACA provides eligible young adults to be legally employed in renewable, 2 year periods. To be considered for DACA, you must have continuously resided in the United States since June 15, 2007, arrived before your 16th birthday, and have no felony background, amongst other requirements. 

The number of students eligible for Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is declining. A 2021 American Community Survey displays that those eligible makeup one-third of undocumented students and 0.7 percent of all college students. It revealed that in 2019 there were 182,000 students eligible for DACA, and in 2021 it dropped to 141,000 students. Currently, about 4,000 undocumented students without DACA protections attend a UC.

In a federal appeals court case in Sep. 2023, a judge ruled DACA illegal. This does not affect current recipients of the program. However, new applications have been halted since 2021. 

Without DACA and the Opportunity for All proposal, the barrier to higher education for undocumented students grows. Many undocumented students rely on work to sustain themselves with food and housing. If they are unable to, it may not be feasible for them to earn a degree from a UC. 

“I thought about the younger generation, like my cousins who have just come to the US and how they will never be able to qualify for DACA,” Matias Santiago said. “This would have broken down that barrier of being able to be employed while being undocumented even without DACA. It would have been a little bit more secure.”

Alma Esperanza Villa Loma said that despite losing this opportunity, “this is not the end.”

“We’re here continuing the good fight,” they said. “This struggle is not just for undocumented students, it’s also for our families.”