UC system contemplates undocumented workers' ability to work in new proposal

The fate of undocumented students' ability to work in Univerity of California schools is now in the Regents' hands as they pore over a proposal that challenges a decades-old federal law. 

The case aims to create an exception for those brought into the U.S. as children and who would have been allowed to work under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The government stopped allowing people to enroll in the initiative in 2021. 

Omar Almi is a senior at UCLA. He and his family came to the States when he was just a 1 year old.  

"I'm an undocumented student at UCLA," he said. "I've faced a wide array of challenges as an undocumented student. Starting from not having equal access to internships, as a student."

Internships he said he needs in order to graduate. This struggle continues in Almi's professional career as he tries to find a job. 

"I feel like I should be judged on my abilities, on my stats, on my GPA, on my classes, on the work that I've done — not on something that I couldn't control when I came here as a child," he said.

The UC proposal on the table would challenge a 1986 federal law prohibiting people without immigration status from legally working and create an exception for students like Almi. 

However, according to Politico, the UC system is feeling pressure from the Department of Homeland Security and Congressman Darrell Issa's office. They said they had "several conversations with the University of California and its representatives," pushing the UC system not to adopt the policy. 

"The State of California and the University of California will do lasting damage if they yield to a pressure campaign and simply pick and choose which federal laws to follow and which to simply ignore," Rep. Darrell Issa said in a statement.

The Regents will discuss the issue Thursday behind closed doors. If approved, it would benefit thousands of current students like Almi.

"We don't want no handouts," he said. "We don't want people giving us money. We just want to work just like everyone else."