EDITORS' CORNER
Key Takeaways
- The California Supreme Court opted not to reconsider a lower court ruling urging the University of California (UC) system to reevaluate its hiring ban on illegal immigrants, implying that the current policy may be discriminatory.
- The First Appellate District court ruled that UC cannot use potential litigation risks as the sole justification for its discriminatory policy, although it did not mandate any specific actions from the university.
- Despite the court's ruling, UC officials argue that the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 prohibits them from hiring illegal immigrants, a stance supported by several legal experts who assert that the law applies to state employers as well.
The University of California system must reconsider its policy barring the hiring of illegal immigrants, following a decision by the state supreme court to decline to revisit a lower court ruling.
The state supreme court decided to let a ruling stand that asks the UC system to revisit its policy, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The system argues that federal law, specifically the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, prohibits it from hiring illegal immigrants. Inside Higher Ed misleadingly claimed the “California Supreme Court rule[d] that UC can hire undocumented students.”
In August, the First Appellate District court ruled that the university system could “not rely on litigation risk alone as the justification for its facially discriminatory policy,” as The College Fix previously reported.
However, the court did not rule that University of California leaders had “to take any specific action.” “The option the University identifies—a declaratory judgment suit against the federal government—is one that remains available to it in response to this writ,” the judges wrote. “We merely require that the University not rely on litigation risk alone as the justification for its facially discriminatory policy.”
The issue has been an ongoing battle, as The Fix reported in September:
University of California Los Angeles’ Center for Immigration Law and Policy brought the lawsuit. The center previously has advocated for the University of California system to remove its prohibition on the hiring of illegal immigrants. Legal scholars Hiroshi Motomura and Ahilan Arulanantham argue the 1986 federal law does not specifically designate government entities as “employers,”…
…In 2024, the UC system disbanded a task force created to study the legality of hiring illegal immigrants, as reported by The Daily Bruin. In 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom also vetoed legislation to allow for the hiring of illegal immigrants, citing potential legal problems.
The university’s next step could be to ask the federal government to weigh in on its behalf. An immigration law expert who previously worked for the Trump administration said the UC system is legally correct in its interpretation.
“I am confident that, in the end, federal courts will rule that [the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986] does indeed apply to States as employers, just as Congress intended in 1986,” George Fishman told The Fix in September. He served as deputy general counsel in the Department of Homeland Security.
Other legal experts shared the same view. ‘“Federal law, which trumps any state law to the contrary, prohibits any employer from hiring illegal aliens,” Zack Smith previously told The Fix. He is a former federal prosecutor and now works as a senior fellow for the Heritage Foundation.
University of California officials said requiring them to hire illegal immigrants would create further problems with the Trump administration. The decision not to hear an appeal, “creates serious legal risks for the University and all other state employers in California,” media representative Rachel Zaentz told the media.
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