FEATURED
Commitment to ending ‘trans oppression‘ also desired
Pasadena City College is hoping to hire a full-time “undocumented student success specialist” to operate out of its DEI office.
The Division of Equity, Diversity & Justice position, which pays $82,000 per year, “provides tailored student success services for undocumented students to ensure enrollment, retention, and academic and career success,” according to the job listing.
This administrator also “implements, and (co)-leads initiatives for undocumented students that focus on academic success, holistic well-being, inclusion, and completion/graduation.”
While the community college district says it is an “equal opportunity employer,” it also “encourages applications from underrepresented minorities and the disabled.”
The ideal candidate also has a “[c]ommitment to social change including working to end all forms of oppression: racism, heterosexism, trans oppression, ableism, sexism, classism, etc.”
Other responsibilities include helping students with financial aid and creating marketing materials.
The college did not respond to multiple requests for comment in the past month regarding the funding of the position or long-term plans for the role.
However, an expert on immigration reform criticized the job posting in comments to The College Fix.
The programs represent a “misprioritization of resources” as American families struggle with the rising costs of higher education,” according to Ira Mehlman with the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
“In FAIR’s view no public funding for higher education should be allocated for illegal aliens and that is especially true with regard to programs created for the specific purpose of assisting illegal aliens,” Mehlman said.
Mehlman said for low-income and middle-class families, sending a child to college is a “significant financial burden” that often results in “significant debt.”
“The financial aid that California provides to illegal aliens should be redirected toward meeting the needs of American students who are struggling to attend college,” Mehlman told The Fix.
The specialist is also expected to help develop “culturally appropriate marketing and publicity materials” and manage specialized assistance for paid internships.
Mehlman said this is particularly problematic in a tightening labor market, citing a recent New York Times report titled “Young graduates face the grimmest job market in years.”
“The idea of a public college hiring someone to help illegal aliens obtain paid internships that are needed by American students to gain work experience… is yet another example of California prioritizing illegal aliens over citizens and legal immigrants,” Mehlman said.
He said that “creating frameworks for success should focus on the success of students who are legally eligible to work in this country, rather than on theoretical future shifts in immigration policy.”
University and state support for illegal immigrants has come under scrutiny from the Trump administration.
The Department of Justice has filed federal lawsuits against a handful of states that provide in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants, while charging more to out-of-state Americans.
The lawsuits have had mixed success, with states like Kentucky and Texas changing their laws. However, Minnesota so far has defeated an effort to get it to change its tuition discounts.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services rescinded access to “grants, loans, scholarships, payments, and loan repayments” to illegal immigrants under its HHS Health Workforce program, The Fix reported last year.
MORE: Loyola newspaper apologizes for calling suspected murderer an ‘illegal immigrant’
