Go back to Front pageSAN FRANCISCO -- Gov. Pete Wilson wasted no time in aggressively attempting to implement Proposition 187 despite two separate court orders blocking the controversial anti-illegal immigration measure voters approved Tuesday.
Wilson, in a press conference Wednesday, said he will order an end to prenatal care for undocumented immigrant women, a state program he once supported. He also directed state agencies to develop guidelines for implementing the new law, even though it could be years before courts decide if Prop. 187 is constitutional.
Under fire for backing what minority rights groups call a racist measure, Wilson tried to quell potential unrest and anger, insisting that Prop.187 "shall be implemented in a fair and non-discriminatory manner."
"There is no place in California for bigotry," Wilson said in his press conference. Yet, as he spoke, hundreds of high school and college students -- mostly Latinos -- marched in protest against the law and Wilson in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
The law denies public health and education to the undocumented, and requires schools and hospitals to report suspected illegal immigrants to federal officials. Because the law is under judicial scrutiny, immigrant advocates and educators have urged parents and children to remain calm, and to continue attending school and seeking necessary health care.
At least eight lawsuits challenging the law were filed in state and federal courts on Wednesday by civil rights groups. Judges immediately slapped restraining orders on every provision of the law, which voters approved Tuesday by a 59 to 41 percent margin.
"We would have hoped to have won in the court of public opinion, but we are now prepared to ensure innocent children's rights in the court of law," said Robert Rubin, a San Francisco attorney who filed suit in San Francisco Superior Court on behalf of undocumented children.
The suit contends that the educational provisions of Prop. 187 are in direct violation of a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision, which declared it unconstitutional and ill-advised to bar undocumented children from public school. The action also argues that the new law violates the California Constitution's guarantee of education as a fundamental right.
Judge Stuart Pollack granted a restraining order until February, acknowledging that the 1982 high court ruling "on its face ... would invalidate portions of this measure."
The San Francisco suit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Lawyers Committe for Civil Rights, and San Francisco-based Multicultural Education Training and Advocacy Inc.
In Los Angeles, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund filed a federal court suit to block all provisions of Prop. 187, arguing that immigration policy is the exclusive province of the federal government. District Court Judge Matthew Byrne, Jr. ordered the law suspended until a hearing next week.
Two other lawsuits challenging Prop. 187 were also filed in San Francisco Superior Court. One seeks to protect undocumented college students who were brought to the United States as young children. The other challenges the requirement that social service agencies report undocumented immigrants.
An election day exit poll on Prop. 187 showed a wide split between non-Latino and Latino voters. Latinos, the most vocal critics of Prop. 187, opposed the measure 69 to 31 percent. Other ethnic groups favored it, with 64 percent of whites, 57 percent of blacks, and 54 percent of Asians voting in approval, according to exit polls of the Voter News Service.
Critics of Prop. 187 have said that even if the law doesn't single out any ethnic group, the campaign rhetoric and Wilson's re-election campaign ads made targets of Latino immigrants. Wilson's television ads featured footage of Latinos running across the Mexican border with children in their arms.
Vilma Zambrano, 17, a San Francisco high school student, said she was particularly angered by Wilson's campaign ads. She and classmates who marched downtown Wednesday also said they feared they might be interrogated at school or elsewhere about their immigration status just because they are Latinos.
"It isn't right to ask people questions because of the way they look," Zambrano said. "A teacher is supposed to teach, not pick on you."
Dan Schnur, Wilson's campaign spokesman, acknowledged that the governor's vigorous support of Prop. 187 inflamed passions and alienated many Latinos. But he blamed the measure's opponents, who said Wilson injected charges of racism into an issue that is really about the costs of illgal immigration.
"The message that we intend to get out now is that Prop. 187 has nothing to do with race, or ethnicity or country of origin," Schnur said.
Manuel Rosales, a Republican who opposed Prop. 187 but supported Wilson, said the governor tapped into voters' legitimate concerns over uncontrolled immigration. But mostly, Wilson was able to use the controversial proposal as a vehicle for his re-election.
"He did the right thing -- politically," Rosales said. "But there are a lot of peeved people out there now."
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