The Command Post - Op-Ed - California Looking At It's Own Proposition Restricting Illegal Aliens From Services

November 19, 2004

California Looking At It's Own Proposition Restricting Illegal Aliens From Services

After the successful approval of Proposition 200 in Arizona, conservatives in California are looking at putting their own proposition together severing services for illegal aliens.

Even with businesses, politicians and churches against the Proposition in Arizona, which requires proof of citizenship when seeking public benefits or registering to vote, it was passed with a fifty-six percent vote approval. An astounding statistic within that approval percentage is that forty-seven percent of Hispanic voters voted in favor of the proposition. This reinforces the fact that the legal Hispanic community is sick of the bad name illegal aliens are giving them and that they are also sick of their taxes being wasted and people jumping ahead of those trying to come to the United States through legal channels.

In Arizona the proposition, which will be ratified on November 22nd, will face a lawsuit by the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund attempting to bar its enforcement.

In California Republicans are more positive on the mandate passing this proposition has delivered.

San Bernardino County Sun

"It's clear there is public support for cutting off benefits to people here illegally,' said Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly, a group pushing a similar proposal in California. "What happened in Arizona is definitely a benefit because it keeps the issue at the forefront.'
...
"This serves as a model for what can be done around the country," Mehlman said. "If government isn't going to be responsive to concerns about illegal immigration, then this is a way of going over their heads."

This is not the first time that a Proposition has been put forth, and approved, in California. In 1994, Proposition 187 was passed with a fifty-nine percent approval rating and went into effect on November 9, 1994.

Proposition 187, Section I.
"provide for cooperation between state and local government agencies, and to establish a system of required notification by and between such agencies, to prevent illegal aliens in the United States from receiving benefits or public services in the State of California."

A preliminary injunction was approved against Proposition 187 on December 14, 1994 -- just 34 days after the people spoke. The preliminary injunction is still in force. ( more info on the injunction ).

There of course are opponents to bringing the issue back up again.

"The passage of Prop. 200 in Arizona obviously gives them media momentum and energizes their political base,' said Nativo Lopez, president of the Mexican-American Political Association. "That's part of the challenge we face."
Lopez agreed: "California is definitely different than Arizona because of the history of Prop. 187."
The real question, he said, is "whether the party leadership and the moderates in the Republican party are going to risk the future of the party by getting behind this type of initiative."

Ahh the shear arrogance of his statement! I would like to direct Mr. Lopez to the forty-seven percent of Hispanic voters that voted for restricting this in Arizona. It is no longer simply a "Racist Issue" as these pro illegal alien groups would have you believe. It is not a racial issue it is an issue of law and taxes. People who are paying taxes for their families services are getting fed up with those taking and taking without giving back.

Politicians in California are of course worried about a potential backlash from the Hispanic community if they support such an initiative, but the people have spoken. They spoke in 1994 with approving Proposition 187 in California and they spoke again in 2004 with Proposition 200 in Arizona. Politicians need to stop fearing this issue and realize that the people want these issues addressed and will support leaders who step up and take on the challenge.

Thomas Galvin tipped me off to this issue.

Originally posted at Diggers Realm

Posted By Digger at November 19, 2004 03:05 PM | TrackBack

Comments

Or CA could always just ratchet down their welfare state a few clicks, give the money saved back to the people and not have to worry about marauding aliens stealing social services.

:jackson

Posted by: jackson zed at November 19, 2004 06:39 PM

jackson zed

It's not that illegals are getting "welfare." The biggest areas in which they benefit are education and medical. One of the reasons 187 was blocked at the courts was that it included stopping the children of illegals attending public schools. That is just never going to fly. Secondly, illegals (and many others) use hospital ER's as regular medical care and, by law, no one can be turned out of the ER.

This is then exacerbated by directives, such as the one in place with the LAPD, that says officers are not allowed to stop known illegals (even gang members) merely because they are illegal.

Solving this problem is not just a one-way solution ... illegals come here for one main reason -- work -- (and when they can't find it, they are being shipped elsewheres in the country). There has to be an effort to seriously punish those that knowingly hire illegals. The place to start is some publicized smackdowns of people who pickup illegals at day laborer gathering places.

This is going to take a multifaceted and realistic approach to solving.

Posted by: Darleen at November 21, 2004 10:55 AM

[smartass]

There has to be an effort to seriously punish those that knowingly hire illegals. The place to start is some publicized smackdowns of people who pickup illegals at day laborer gathering places.

Hey, we could do that with drugs too. We could arrest a bunch of people who buy drugs and people who sell them...

Wait. Never mind.

What was that you said about "realistic"?

[/smartass]

Sorry Darleen, I couldn't help it.

Let me try another analogy. If one were to build a house out of manure, it stands to reason that all of the flyswatters in the world aren't going to keep the flies away.

What CA has done is to build city after shining city out of manure, and now the flies are pissing everyone off. Duh.

At the same time here in Texas we don't have nearly as many state "services" as CA has and therefore illegal immagrants just don't pose much of a problem (or a political issue) for Texans. Also as a result, there is very little racial/ethnc tension between TX Hispanics and everyone else, and the cheap labor also works to keep life affordable here; it's a win-win-win situation.

What's needed in CA is an honest evaluation of the natural and practical limits of government power. The human experience of using government to defy markets in the face of demand has been a remarkably unsuccessful one, but that doesn't mean it isn't instructive. To paraphrase a wise old bumper sticker, If hiring illegals is outlawed, only outlaws will hire illegals. No enforcement action is going to make the demand for that labor go away, or at least not without making the businesses that create the demand also go away, along with the wealth they create, the higher paying jobs they create, the tax revenues that create, and the higher standard of living that all of these things combine to create go away as well.

And to be fair, California's welfare state is only part of the problem. What's needed more than anything is a national immigration policy that is consistent with supply and demand. By being consistent with the reality of the market, such a policy will produce order, and with that order, real security.

:jackson

Posted by: jackson zed at November 21, 2004 03:22 PM

One of the reasons 187 was blocked at the courts was that it included stopping the children of illegals attending public schools. That is just never going to fly. Secondly, illegals (and many others) use hospital ER�s as regular medical care and, by law, no one can be turned out of the ER.
**************************************************************

Exactly what part of the word ILLEGAL
do these courts NOT understand?

No an illegal alien should NOT allowed in the school system, they should be deported and yes Emergency care has to be given, they should AT THAT TIME be placed into custody and DEPORTED.

Will that mean people may not seek medical care, and that children might not go to school?

Probably, but if that bothers you then explain to me what part of the word illegal do YOU not understand?

Posted by: Dan Kauffman at November 24, 2004 11:30 PM