More news reports roll in every day about the intense state-sanctioned persecution and criminalization that people without legal status face in the United States.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is planning a sweep targeting undocumented people in Los Angeles in the next month, according to a leaked agency document reviewed by the LA Times.

This imminent ICE raid hits especially close to home for many UCLA students, family members, faculty and staff.

In light of what is happening right now, the UC system’s already strained relationship with its undocumented student population is worthy of harsh criticism. Time and again, the university and complicit state institutions have failed to live up to their promises.

Only months after California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the Opportunity for All Act, which would have allowed undocumented students to access on-campus jobs, this new administration’s grotesque policies have only added a new dimension to the unequal and unfair treatment these communities face.

UCLA and the UC system have a moral obligation to listen to their undocumented students and support them as the Trump administration and its acolytes lay siege to immigrant communities across the U.S. and tread over fundamental constitutional principles.

The board of Improving Dreams, Equity, Access and Success at UCLA, which represents undocumented students on campus, condemned the university’s administration for its inaction in a statement released Feb. 3.

“Chancellor (Julio) Frenk and the UC regents have made no intent to address the needs of their students and to affirm their protection, while many students are actively seeking support to prepare and defend themselves and their families in the face of these threats,” the board said in the statement.

The IDEAS board ended its letter by requesting an immediate meeting with Frenk.

That demand for a meeting between IDEAS and Frenk was also echoed by the Undergraduate Students Association Council, which unanimously passed a resolution Jan. 28 that called for the university to reestablish the UCLA Advisory Council on Immigration Policy.

Rebuilding the council, whose first iteration was created in 2017, would allow undocumented students to talk directly with the university and ensure the it is fulfilling its duty in protecting and supporting the rights and well-being of undocumented students, the resolution said.

Frenk and UCLA’s administration must, at a minimum, adhere to these good-faith requests to engage with undocumented student leaders.

The lack of support and clarity from the administration and university-directed programs, even those that are allegedly built to support undocumented students, on how they are planning to respond to the new threats posed by the Trump administration is especially worrying, the IDEAS board said in the statement.

However, the leaders of IDEAS also warned against the co-optation of the concerns of the undocumented community by outside groups. In a separate statement published Feb. 5, the board critiqued Instagram posts and flyers calling for protests nominally in solidarity with undocumented students.

“We will not be pressured into performative actions or tactics that do not align with our strategy,” the board said in the statement. “We already have a concrete plan to speak with our Chancellor and vital knowledge that comes from our lived experiences on how else we will fight for our communities.”

The lack of action on the part of UCLA’s administration is deeply concerning but not surprising given the UC system’s recent history. The UC’s repeated failures to support undocumented students, made especially clear in its rejection of the Opportunity for All campaign, are even worse given how they compound with other issues undocumented students have recently faced, including interruptions of and legal challenges to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and a decline in enrollment across the UC system.

With the university’s leaders largely unwilling to respond, some university programs have made some efforts to step up. Those include the UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy and UC Immigrant Legal Services, which have released “Know Your Rights” materials to help educate community members on their legal rights and protections in encounters with law enforcement or ICE.

These initiatives, however, only make the UCLA administration’s silence even more conspicuous.

It’s long past time for the UC and UCLA’s administration to listen to their undocumented students.