Spring 2024
WHEREAS, The Student Senate of California Community Colleges (SSCCC) has long been committed to uplifting marginalized people, “affirming that students should not be punished for their immigration status”[1] while concurrently professing the value of educational equity seeking to “ensure stances and support for programs and legislation that removes barriers and ensures access and success for underserved and marginalized communities,”[2] and the SSCCC has communicated the desire to uplift the unique needs and barriers faced by undocumented students by designating this group the focus of Chapter 4 of the SSCCC Anti-Racism Plan of Action[3], completed during the 2023-2024 term;
WHEREAS, A major and unique barrier which the somewhere between 50,000 to 70,000 undocumented students enrolled in California community colleges[4] face is limited financial options concerning how to pay for basic needs and and school, since they are barred from federal work study, [5] “barred from federal financial aid and many lack work authorization [and] these limited options are often a deterrence from attending college altogether” [6] since undocumented students are currently ineligible for programs such as Pell Grants, CalFresh, and the California Food Assistance Program,[7] leading the California Student Aid Commission to recommend that undocumented students be eligible for state safety net programs [8], the ability to work[9], and federal programs such as PELL Grants[10]; and
WHEREAS, Twenty-nine distinguished legal scholars have written explaining an extensive legal framework which permits the hiring of undocumented people by state agencies,[11] since the law which prohibits the hiring of undocumented people federally (the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act)[12] does not explicitly mention state entities, and “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,”[13] as California community colleges are state government entities [14] [15] this framework explains a legal rationale for the lawful hiring of undocumented students by California community colleges; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, The Student Senate of California Community Colleges make it a priority to advocate, to the greatest extent allowable by law, that undocumented students are eligible for on campus employment and employment at state agencies, without any additional barriers, and in the same manner as their documented peers, by, among other actions seeking to have a legal framework which recognizes undocumented students’ ability to be hired by state agencies such as California community colleges, adopted by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors;
RESOLVED, The Student Senate of California Community Colleges make it a priority to work to see that undocumented students are able to obtain federal work authorization; and
RESOLVED, The Student Senate of California Community Colleges make it a priority to advocate that undocumented students are eligible for state and federal assistance programs which are available to documented students, including but not limited to, PELL Grants, CalFresh, and the California Food Assistance Program.
WHEREAS, A major and unique barrier which the somewhere between 50,000 to 70,000 undocumented students enrolled in California community colleges[4] face is limited financial options concerning how to pay for basic needs and and school, since they are barred from federal work study, [5] “barred from federal financial aid and many lack work authorization [and] these limited options are often a deterrence from attending college altogether” [6] since undocumented students are currently ineligible for programs such as Pell Grants, CalFresh, and the California Food Assistance Program,[7] leading the California Student Aid Commission to recommend that undocumented students be eligible for state safety net programs [8], the ability to work[9], and federal programs such as PELL Grants[10]; and
WHEREAS, Twenty-nine distinguished legal scholars have written explaining an extensive legal framework which permits the hiring of undocumented people by state agencies,[11] since the law which prohibits the hiring of undocumented people federally (the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act)[12] does not explicitly mention state entities, and “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,”[13] as California community colleges are state government entities [14] [15] this framework explains a legal rationale for the lawful hiring of undocumented students by California community colleges; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, The Student Senate of California Community Colleges make it a priority to advocate, to the greatest extent allowable by law, that undocumented students are eligible for on campus employment and employment at state agencies, without any additional barriers, and in the same manner as their documented peers, by, among other actions seeking to have a legal framework which recognizes undocumented students’ ability to be hired by state agencies such as California community colleges, adopted by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors;
RESOLVED, The Student Senate of California Community Colleges make it a priority to work to see that undocumented students are able to obtain federal work authorization; and
RESOLVED, The Student Senate of California Community Colleges make it a priority to advocate that undocumented students are eligible for state and federal assistance programs which are available to documented students, including but not limited to, PELL Grants, CalFresh, and the California Food Assistance Program.