California has the largest population of undocumented college students. Among them lies a giant rift: Those who qualify for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — a federal program also known as DACA — and those who don’t. And as CalMatters community college reporter Adam Echelman explains, the educational and living experiences of both groups can differ widely.
Established in 2012, DACA offers benefits, particularly limited employment opportunities, for undocumented students. After former President Donald Trump’s administration decided to phase out DACA in 2017, an estimated 17,000 people in California became ineligible for the program, and nearly another 100,000 in California were ineligible for other reasons.
The situation has created challenges around employment, financial aid and deportation for colleges and students, including Auner Barrios Vasquez. As someone ineligible for DACA, he had to turn down an internship at a tech startup. And when President Joe Biden tried to reinstate DACA in 2021, Barrios Vasquez quickly assembled an application, only for a judge’s ruling to halt his progress.
- Barrios Vasquez: “I felt like I was once again robbed of an opportunity, but it wasn’t up to me. At that point, what could I do?”
For more on Barrios Vasquez’s story and others like him, read Adam’s story.
In other education news: The California Faculty Association is following through on its threats of one-day strikes at four campuses starting Monday through Dec. 7, writes CalMatters higher education reporter Mikhail Zinshteyn.
Out of a total of nearly 460,000 students that attend Cal States, the four schools (Cal Poly Pomona, San Francisco State, CSU Los Angeles and Sacramento State) are among the largest in the system, with a combined 105,000 students. The walkouts are meant to signal to Cal State leadership how quickly the union can mobilize its members.
- Kevin Wehr, bargaining team chairperson for the union and…
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