California Proposition 187 (1994)
California Proposition 187 was a proposition introduced in California in 1994 to deny illegal immigrants social services, health care, and public education. A number of people and organizations were involved in bringing it to the voters. Dana Rohrabacher is claimed as the author, and the California Coalition for Immigration Reform (CCIR) calls itself the co-author. It was introduced by assemblyman Dick Mountjoy (Republican from Monrovia, California) as the Save Our State initiative.
Proposition 187 included several additions to the law, falling into two categories.
- All law enforcement agents who suspect that a person who has been arrested 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 (INS). Local governments are prohibited from doing anything to impair the fulfillment of this requirement. The attorney general must keep records on all such cases and make them available to any other government entity that wishes to inspect them.
- No one may receive public benefits until they have proven their legal right to reside in the country. If anyone applies for benefits and is suspected by government agents of being illegal, those agents must report in writing to the enforcement authorities. Emergency medical care is exempted as required by federal law but all other medical benefits have the same test as above. Primary and secondary education is explicitly included.
Governor Pete Wilson was a prominent supporter. Opponents included State Senator Art Torres, who referred to Prop. 187 as "the last gasp of white America in California." The campaigns on both sides of the issue were marked by racially divisive rhetoric. The proposition came before voters on the November 8, 1994 general election, where it received 59% of the vote. It became law the next day. While its advocates were assumed to be political conservatives, some liberals (such as Los Angeles-based radio talk-show host Tom Leykis) also favored it, on the grounds that making life more difficult for illegal immigrants might result in fewer of them entering the state, creating labor shortages which could drive up wages for the lowest-paid workers (many households headed by those who belonged to labor unions also supported the measure for this reason).
Its constitutionality was immediately challenged in several cases. On November 11, 1994, federal judge Matthew Byrne issued a temporary restraining order against it, on grounds that it exceeded state authority in the federal realm of immigration. The case worked its way through the courts. The multiple cases were consolidated and brought before judge Mariana Pfaelzer. In 1998, newly elected Governor Gray Davis (who had opposed the proposition) had the case brought before mediation. Following this, he dropped the appeals process before the courts, effectively killing the law.
It is commonly believed that a repercussion of the campaign for passage of Prop. 187 was the alienation of minority voters in California from the Republican Party.
In a bizarre coincidence, 187 is also the section of the California Penal Code that deals with murder, and for a while it was often used in gangsta rap lyrics with that meaning. See 187 (murder). For illegal immigrant children in inner-city slums who saw people doing "187's" around them all the time, and then learned that another law called "187" was about to be used to deny them access to government services, the number came to have a doubly unpleasant connotation.