UCLA Student Government Passes Stipend To Compensate Undocumented Students

The student government at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) passed legislation that will provide council members who are undocumented immigrants a financial stipend. 

UCLA’s Student Association Council unanimously passed a $23,000 fund called the “UndocuCouncil Member Stipend” on March 2, according to The College Fix. The stipend allows undocumented students, who cannot obtain legal work, to be financially compensated for their work on the student council. 

“The University of California’s payroll system cannot hire students without work authorization, undocumented students without Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status cannot receive stipends as wage,” The Daily Bruin reported. 

The Daily Bruin claims that the $23,000 stipend is equivalent to two council members’ yearly pay. The money comes from the student council’s so-called “surplus fund,” which is taken from student tax dollars.  

The stipend legislation came after the council’s External Vice President lost her status as a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Johana Guerra Martinez was unable to receive financial compensation for seven weeks for her vice presidential role after she lost her DACA status and work permit. 

An undocumented students’ stipend will now be routed through the student government and the university’s financial aid program. 

Despite the legislation’s successful passage, student government President Robert Watson said in a statement that he was concerned with how long it took to compensate Guerra Martinez. “It needs to be a continuing conversation on how to go about best serving our student leaders that do not have DACA status,” Watson said.  

Guerra Martinez said that such compensation comes with the “promise” of a University of California education. 

“You get promises to apply to internships and build your resume for your future career, but undocumented students constantly don’t have those opportunities because there’s employment restrictions,” Guerra Martinez said. “I think for me, this experience has just been a huge reminder of the fact that there is no plan for what to do when students lose DACA.” 

The move to provide financial assistance to illegal immigrant students comes as the United States is verging on what experts are calling a “crisis” of migrants swarming to the southern border. The Biden administration has been ripped for its inability to adequately care for migrants and its attempts to hide the crisis from the media and the American public. 

According to the New York Post, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has signed an $89.6 million contract with a Texas nonprofit to shelter migrants in hotels while federal agents process a backlog of new migrant arrivals. 

The Biden administration has also received pushback from Mexico’s left-leaning President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The President blamed Biden during a press conference for creating unrealistic “expectations” about a better immigration process to the United States.

The Daily Wire reported: 

“Expectations were created that with the Government of President there would be a better treatment of migrants. And this has caused Central American migrants, and also from our country, wanting to cross the border thinking that it is easier to do so,” Obrador said. 

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