MY THOUGHTS - Gov. Gavin Newsom is about to decide whether California should take another extraordinary gamble with federal immigration law. This time, the battleground is the college campus.
Assembly Bill 713 would prohibit California’s public colleges and universities from disqualifying students from campus employment because of their immigration status. Supporters frame the issue as one of fairness: Students without legal status attend California colleges, face substantial financial barriers and should have the opportunity to earn money while pursuing their education. Their struggles are real, and their desire to work is understandable.
But compassion does not give California the power to rewrite federal immigration law. Newsom should not gamble California’s universities, billions of dollars in federal support and potentially the students themselves on a legal theory that remains contested.
THE LEGAL GAMBLE
At the heart of AB 713 is an aggressive interpretation of the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Supporters argue that because Congress did not explicitly identify state agencies among certain employers covered by federal employment restrictions, California’s public institutions may be able to hire students who lack federal work authorization.
That is no minor technical dispute. California would effectively be asserting that although Washington controls immigration policy, Sacramento can decide that federal employment restrictions do not apply to its public institutions. That is an enormous legal bet.
Public universities should not become laboratories for testing immigration theories that Congress itself has never adopted. If federal employment law needs to change, Congress should change it. California does not get to manufacture its own federal immigration policy.
BILLIONS COULD BE AT STAKE
Newsom confronted essentially the same question in 2024 and vetoed similar legislation. He had good reason. The University of California itself considered allowing students without legal status to obtain campus employment but backed away amid concerns about federal law, litigation and federal funding.
Those concerns cannot simply be dismissed because Sacramento wants a different outcome. UC receives billions of dollars annually from Washington, supporting research, medical programs, financial aid and educational opportunities across the university system.
That raises the question Sacramento should be forced to answer before Newsom signs AB 713: How much federal funding is California willing to put at risk to prove this legal theory? A million dollars? A billion? More?
Once billions in federal support and the education of countless students are potentially implicated, this stops being symbolic politics. It becomes a question of responsible government.
CALIFORNIA’S “PASS IT, THEN LITIGATE IT” GOVERNMENT
California has developed an expensive political habit: Pass the law. Challenge Washington. Get sued. Hire the lawyers. Spend taxpayer money. Then wait years for the courts to decide who was right.
AB 713 risks becoming another chapter in that playbook. Supporters cite a state appellate ruling challenging UC’s policy toward students without legal status. But that ruling did not conclusively establish that federal law permits California universities to employ people who lack federal work authorization, nor did the court simply order UC to begin hiring them.
That distinction is critical. Rather than waiting for greater legal certainty, Sacramento wants to move forward and potentially force the larger federal question into another courtroom. That is not thoughtful policymaking. It is legislation by litigation, and Californians are too often handed the legal bill afterward.
DON’T TURN STUDENTS INTO TEST CASES
There is another reason Newsom should proceed carefully: the students themselves. Many students without legal status have spent much of their lives in California. They attended our schools, earned admission to our colleges and universities and are trying to build successful futures. They deserve respect, but they also deserve honesty.
Politicians should not encourage students to enter a disputed employment arrangement without being completely candid about the possible consequences. Campus employment creates personnel, payroll and administrative records, and California universities have already faced controversies involving information provided to federal authorities.
Lawmakers therefore should be extremely cautious before suggesting that participation in a legally disputed employment program presents little additional risk. If Sacramento’s legal gamble fails, politicians can hold press conferences, blame Washington and file another lawsuit. Students may have considerably more at stake.
They should not become political test cases in California’s continuing battle with the federal government.
COMPASSION AND THE RULE OF LAW CAN COEXIST
None of this means California should abandon students struggling to afford college. California can provide tuition assistance, scholarships, emergency aid, counseling, legal resources and other support within the state’s lawful authority.
There is also a legitimate national debate over whether immigration laws should provide expanded employment opportunities for students brought to America as children. Congress should have that debate, Congress should vote, and if the law needs changing, Congress should change it.
But California cannot solve Washington’s immigration failures by constructing its own interpretation of federal law and daring the federal government to stop it. Good intentions do not erase jurisdiction. Compassion does not eliminate legal limits.
NEWSOM SHOULD DRAW THE LINE
AB 713 is ultimately about much more than campus jobs. It is about whether California should enter another high-stakes confrontation with Washington based on a disputed interpretation of federal law and whether taxpayers, universities and students should bear the consequences if Sacramento is wrong.
Newsom understood that danger when he vetoed the previous proposal. He should understand it now. California’s students deserve opportunity. Immigrant communities deserve dignitay. Taxpayers deserve responsible government. And California’s public universities deserve better than being transformed into legal battlefields for Sacramento’s political fights with Washington.
Newsom should veto AB 713.
Not because these students do not deserve opportunity, and not because California should turn its back on them. He should veto it because lasting opportunity should rest on law that is clear, durable and defensible not on a political and legal gamble whose consequences could extend far beyond the students Sacramento says it wants to help.
California cannot solve Washington’s broken immigration system by pretending Sacramento gets to write its own federal immigration rules.
Newsom has drawn that line once before. He should not cross it now.
(Yonthan Mendal writes on Jewish community issues, antisemitism, Israel, and public policy. His articles focus on civic engagement, education, and issues affecting Jewish communities.)
