1994 California Proposition 187


California Proposition 187 was a 1994 ballot initiative to establish a state-run citizenship screening system and prohibit undocumented immigrants from using non-emergency health care, public education, and other services in the State of California. Voters enacted the proposed law at a referendum on November 8, 1994. The law was challenged in a legal suit the day after its passage, with almost all provisions found unconstitutional by a federal district court on November 11. In July 1999, Governor Gray Davis halted state appeals of this ruling, effectively killing the law.
The enactment of Proposition 187 reflected state residents' concerns about illegal immigration to the United States. Opponents cited the specter of "totalitarianism", finding the initiative unfairly targeted "children and would turn tens of thousands of adults into government informants", while being motivated by bigotry against people of Hispanic or Asian origin; supporters maintained that their concerns were economic: that the state could not afford to provide social services for so many people who had entered the country undocumented or overstayed their visas. The California Legislative Analyst's Office later said that the cost of verification would be greater than any fiscal benefits of the ballot measure. As the state's demographics have shifted to include more immigrants, the reversal of Proposition 187 has been cited as a reason for the decline of the California Republican Party.

Background and passage

In 1994, California had an estimated 1.3 million undocumented immigrants. Some residents were increasingly concerned about the costs of providing services to undocumented families.
The Republican assemblyman Dick Mountjoy of Monrovia introduced Proposition 187 to the state legislature as the "Save Our State" initiative. It gained enough signatures to be placed on the ballot as a statutory initiative during the general election on November 8, 1994. Originally one of several immigration reform bills placed before the California legislature in the early 1990s, polls surveying community responses showed that Proposition 187 began with widespread support—a 37-point lead in July 1994, and 62–29% lead among likely voters by September 1994. Proponents of the bill estimated that California spent $3 billion per year on services for undocumented immigrants, about half of which provided education to children of undocumented immigrants.
Governor Pete Wilson, a Republican, was a prominent supporter of Proposition 187, which ultimately became a key issue during his 1994 re-election campaign against Democratic opponent Kathleen Brown. After facing record low approval ratings during his first term, Wilson trailed Brown in opinion polls by more than 20% early during the gubernatorial campaign. Commentators considered his aggressive support of the Proposition 187 as crucial to his re-election. In the days leading up to the election, Wilson said that he would require all state and local government employees to report suspected undocumented immigrants to the Attorney's General Office if Proposition 187 passed. State Attorney General Dan Lungren, also running for re-election, agreed to enforce emergency regulations to implement the law immediately after the election.
During the United States Senate election in California, 1994 campaign, the incumbent Senator Dianne Feinstein and Republican challenger Michael Huffington both adopted tough policies against undocumented immigration. The candidates each revealed that they had previously hired undocumented immigrants for housekeeping and childcare. Unlike Feinstein, Huffington had hired a housekeeper who was an undocumented immigrant after the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which made it illegal to knowingly hire undocumented immigrants. Feinstein was narrowly re-elected.
President Bill Clinton urged Californians to reject Proposition 187 as an impediment to federal policy on immigration. After stating that "it is not wrong for you Californians to want to reduce illegal immigration," Clinton asked voters to allow the federal government to "keep working on what we're doing." In November 1994, Clinton publicly criticized the ballot measure, stating that it "is not the answer" to the issues stemming from undocumented immigration. In the days leading up to the ballot measure vote, Latino students organized large protests of Proposition 187 across the state, including a mass boycott of high schools. Their protests often included waving the Mexican flag, a controversial symbol that was described by opponents as counterproductive.
On November 8, 1994, California voters approved the proposition by a wide margin: 59% to 41%. According to the Los Angeles Times exit polls, 63% of non-Hispanic white voters and 23% of Latino voters voted for Proposition 187; African-American and Asian voters were closely divided between those voting for and against the law. Although non-Hispanic whites comprised 57% of California's population at the time, they represented 81% of voters in the 1994 general election. Latinos totaled 8% of voters, although they comprised 26% of the state's population.
Among those who voted on the initiative, 78% of Republicans and 62% of independents voted for it, while 64% of Democrats opposed it.
Section 1 of Proposition 187 provides this introduction:

The People of California find and declare as follows:
That they have suffered and are suffering economic hardship caused by the presence of illegal aliens in this state. That they have suffered and are suffering personal injury and damage caused by the criminal conduct of illegal aliens in this state. That they have a right to the protection of their government from any person or persons entering this country unlawfully.

Key elements of Proposition 187

Proposition 187 included the following key elements:
  1. All law enforcement agents who suspect that a person who has been arrested is in violation of immigration laws must investigate the detainee's immigration status, and if they find evidence of illegality they must report it to the attorney general of California, and to the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service. They must also notify the detainee of his or her apparent status as an alien.
  2. Local governments are prohibited from preventing or limiting the fulfillment of this requirement.
  3. If government agents suspect anyone applying for benefits of being illegal immigrants, the agents must report their suspicions in writing to the appropriate enforcement authorities.
  4. People shall not receive any public social services until verified as a United States citizen or as a lawfully admitted alien.
  5. People shall not receive any health care services from a publicly funded health care facility until verified as a United States citizen or as a lawfully admitted alien.
  6. A public elementary or secondary school shall not admit or permit the attendance of any child until verified as a United States citizen or as a lawfully admitted alien.
  7. By 1996, each school district shall verify the legal status of each child enrolled within the district and the legal status of each parent or guardian of each child.
  8. A child who is in violation of the requirements above shall not continue to attend the school 90 days from the date of notice to the attorney general and INS.
  9. The attorney general must keep records on all such cases and make them available to any other government entity that wishes to inspect them.
  10. The manufacture, distribution, sale, or use of false citizenship or residency documents is a state felony punishable by imprisonment or fine.

    Opposition

Activists on campuses, churches, and ethnic communities in California and across the country rallied to express opposition to Proposition 187. Critics argued that the measure was xenophobic and discriminated against ethnic minorities, especially those of Latino origin. Others were fearful that the costs of a state-run citizenship screening system and the potential loss of federal funds would off-set any savings of denying public benefits to unlawful residents. The day after the law was approved, an alliance of Latino and civil rights groups, including Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and American Civil Liberties Union, filed lawsuits against the measure in state court. Multiple local governments outside California, including the city of Denver, Colorado, threatened to boycott the state altogether. Latino organizations announced that they would not hold conventions in California and urged a boycott by their members and supporters of Disneyland, a major tourist attraction.
In the weeks leading up to the election, opponents of Proposition 187 led a series of demonstrations. These events gathered several thousands of people. One of the largest protests of the proposition, as well as one of the largest protests in Los Angeles history, was held on October 16, 1994, when an estimated 70,000 people marched through the downtown area. The line of demonstrators stretched at least a mile long. 2 weeks later, 7,000 people participated in another rally against Proposition 187 that took the form of a concert in which dozens of musicians and speakers performed. Young people, particularly Hispanic students, organized their own protests. Most often, these involved campus walkouts. Students as young as middle schoolers participated. In one of the largest student-led demonstrations against Proposition 187, more than 10,000 young people walked out from more than 30 campuses in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The protest was held without endorsement by any official groups; instead, students had been encouraged to stay in school and stage sit-ins as an alternative.
Due to Proposition 187's statutes requiring children and their parents or legal guardians to prove their legal status, the California State Parent-Teacher Association joined in opposing the bill. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Gray Davis, who succeeded Wilson, campaigned against Proposition 187. Proposition 187 was widely supported by conservatives. However, some prominent conservatives, including former Congressman and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp, former Secretary of Education William Bennett, and unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Unz, publicly opposed the initiative. The Mexican president, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, decried the law as xenophobic and harmful to the human rights of migrant laborers. One week after the bill was approved, Salinas proposed cross-border discussions to develop a "guest worker" program that would permit non-resident Mexicans to work legally in the United States. Such a program had been in place during World War II.