Prop 187
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"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. They have a right to the
protection of their government from any person or persons entering this country
unlawfully." (Voter) Those are the first three lines of text in the proposed law of
California's 1994 Proposition 187. Proposition 187 is the discriminatory California law
that denies public social services, publicly funded health care, and public education to
people who are illegal immigrants. To better understand Proposition 187 on must
understand the discriminatory climate leading up to its conception, the details of how
Proposition 187 discriminates against illegal immigrants, and its impact on the residents
of California.
At the time of Proposition 187's conception, discrimination against illegal immigrants
in California slowly gained favor. California assembly member Dick Mountjoy, the
author of Proposition 187, seized upon a popular theme among white Californians. The
theme was that illegal immigrants, who were using California's welfare, medical and
educational benefits, were slowly bankrupting the state's economy. In California, 1...