First-in-US Push to Hire Undocumented Students Tests Law’s Limit

California has been a leader in legislation benefiting undocumented residents, such as allowing them to obtain driver’s licenses. Now, the state’s higher education system is looking to be their largest employer by relying on an untested legal theory.

Roughly five months after agreeing to student demands for a new hiring policy covering undocumented immigrants, University of California regents are fast approaching a self-imposed deadline of Nov. 30 to issue a plan making the school system the first public institution to hire students and staff regardless of their legal immigration status. Activists say the public pressure on regents will grow in ...