California Immigration Law AB 540

Introduction

The Assembly Bill 540 (AB 540) Student Services Committee met during the spring 2008 semester. The committee reviewed programs and services, admissions, retention and graduation processes which currently exist to determine whether efforts in these areas contribute to or hinder the success of AB 540 or undocumented students at the university.

Discussion

Numerous immigration policies exclusionary of minorities have been enacted to impose numerical quotas of certain immigrants, such as dark-skinned immigrants from countries such as Asia, Africa, Latin America and Mexico (Rincon, 2008; del Pinal & Singer, 1997). As most immigration policy has been implemented to benefit the vested interests of this nation, by either restricting legal entrance of a target minority group, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, or to encourage migration, such as the Bracero Program of 1942, which was design to "import" cheap labor-force from Mexican Nationals to work in back-breaking low and unskilled jobs, such as farm-work. The last time the United States enacted a federally-mandated immigration policy was in 1986, with the enactment of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA).

The California D.R.E.A.M. Act

The state of California has its own version of the Federal D.R.E.A.M. act. The California D.R.E.A.M. Act proposes limited access to financial aid as well as scholarships; however it would allow greater access to undocumented youth into institutions of higher education. This piece of legislation has yet to be decided on and it is currently in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Assembly Bill 540 (AB 540)

A more "successful" piece of legislation is Assembly Bill 540 which was enacted into law in 2002. This piece of legislation allows students to qualify for in-state tuition as long they attended a high school in the state of California for at least three years, graduated from a California high school or attained the equivalent of a high school diploma, are registered or currently enrolled in a California institution of higher education, and has filed or plans paperwork to legalize their immigration status. California's AB 540 aimed to improve undocumented youth's access to higher education since California accounts for the highest number of undocumented Latino immigrants. Approximately 5,800 and 7,450 undocumented students could potentially benefit from AB 540.

Failure of California's AB 540 legislation

California's AB 540 legislation has failed to fulfill its expected outcome in its goals for undocumented students. The lack of information and guidelines, as well as failure to distribute ...