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Submission: UC cannot legally give undocumented students state benefits

By Daily Bruin Staff

Sept. 8, 2014 6:20 a.m.

On Aug. 26, Judicial Watch took a step in defense of taxpayer rights by filing a lawsuit against the University of California Board of Regents. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of former California Senate candidate Earl De Vries, alleges that the UC Board of Regents is currently violating federal law by granting in-state tuition and state-funded public benefits to undocumented immigrants.

U.S. Code Title VIII. 1621 states that undocumented immigrants are ineligible to receive taxpayer-funded benefits unless a state explicitly passes a law granting such benefits. The California Legislature and former Gov. Gray Davis later passed Assembly Bill 540, which made undocumented immigrants and non-legal residents eligible for in-state tuition and benefits in the California State University and California Community Colleges systems. AB 540 cannot be constitutionally expanded to include the University of California since the state legislature cannot govern the Board of Regents in policy matters.

Unfortunately, this case will undoubtedly be misrepresented and preemptively demonized by those who claim that this is a matter of race or equality. Those claims are simply and unequivocally not true. This lawsuit is about federal and state law as well as about checking the arrogance of the UC Board of Regents. By deciding to unlawfully adopt the policies under AB 540, the UC Board of Regents has decided that it has the authority to draft, institute and enforce state legislation. Those powers belong to the voters of California and no one else.

The federal law is clear; a state may grant eligibility to otherwise ineligible individuals “only through the enactment of a State law.” As California law stands today, undocumented immigrants are ineligible to receive benefits from the UC system. Bruin Republicans, and all those in support of law and taxpayer rights, stand firmly against the overreach by the UC Board of Regents and refuse to surrender our rights and legislative power.

We, the people of California, must ensure that our taxes are lawfully spent and protect the sanctity of our legislative authority.

Rhim is a second-year mathematics student and the internal vice president of Bruin Republicans.

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