Dean Johnson Comments on AB 540 for NY Times, Other Media
Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented on the recent California Supreme Court ruling upholding Assembly Bill 540 for media including the New York Times, Sacramento Bee, San Jose Mercury News, Christian Science Monitor, Contra Costa Times, radio station KNX of Los Angeles, and television station KGO of Sacramento. The high court ruled that the law, which makes undocumented immigrants eligible for in-state tuition like other graduates of California high schools, did not violate the rights of non-resident students.
The undocumented students "are tax payers as well as residents as well as students who were educated in our K-12 system, and it makes little sense to treat them as non-residents and to not allow those who seek a college education to obtain a college education," Dean Johnson said in his KNX interview.
The fact that the ruling was unanimous might persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to decide against considering the case, especially in light of the small number of undocumented students paying in-state fees, Dean Johnson told the San Jose Mercury News. Yet the issue points to the need for comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level, he said.
"Until the federal government acts on immigration, we're going to continue to get state and local governments either attacking immigrants or being attacked by groups saying we're favoring immigrants," Dean Johnson said in a Sacramento Bee interview. "In my mind, that's why we need federal action."
In the New York Times, Johnson reiterated: "This issue is not going to go away. It's going to require some Congressional action."
Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.