- LOS ANGELES (AP) -
Backers of a contentious 1994 initiative denying some social services to
illegal immigrants have resurrected their effort and are gathering signatures
to qualify a new measure for the November ballot.
-
- The "Save Our State Initiative" would bar undocumented
immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses and most public services, including
non-emergency health care.
-
- Police, teachers and other public employees would have
to notify federal authorities in writing of immigration violations or face
potential misdemeanor criminal charges.
-
- "We don't think it's right to give welfare to illegal
aliens," campaign organizer Ron Prince said Saturday. "If you
don't do something about illegal immigration, you will never cure your
deficit."
-
- The campaign has collected hundreds of signatures and
several thousand dollars since it began less than two weeks ago, Prince
said. Backers need 500,900 valid signatures by April to put the measure
on the November ballot.
-
- The measure is similar to 1994's Proposition 187, which
was approved by 60 percent of voters but never took effect because of court
challenges.
-
- This time supporters have designed the measure so it
can survive legal challenges, Prince said. One difference is that the new
proposal would allow illegal immigrants to attend public school.
-
- The Proposition 187 campaign angered many Hispanic groups,
who accused its supporters of racism.
-
- Nativo Lopez, president of the Mexican American Political
Association and national director of the immigrant rights group Hermandad
Mexicana Latinoamericana, called the new effort "symptomatic of the
worst of what we saw of the 1990s anti-immigrant movement."
-
- "It's going to be back to divisive politics for
California," Lopez said. But he added that Proposition 187 has galvanized
Hispanics politically, and that about 2 million immigrants have become
citizens and registered voters in the state since the 1994 vote.
-
- Prince, a Tustin accountant, said the issue was never
race and that many Hispanics favor curbing services to illegal immigrants.
-
- "Who really hurts most from illegals?" he said.
"The people who live in East L.A. who ... compete for lower wages
and jobs, and whose children have to attend crowded schools."
-
- Prince said Proposition 187 supporters were encouraged
by the Oct. 7 recall of Gov. Gray Davis, fueled in part by anger over a
bill he signed that would have permitted some illegal immigrants to obtain
driver's licenses.
-
- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger repealed the law after taking
office. He voted for Proposition 187 but has not taken a position on the
proposed new initiative.
-
- The state Republican Party also endorsed Proposition
187, but no major GOP organization has yet endorsed the new campaign.
-
- Backers say the new initiative is necessary because providing
services to illegals is costing cash-strapped California millions of dollars.
-
- A summary of the measure prepared by the attorney general's
office says it could cost the government tens of millions of dollars to
verify citizenship but could save more than $100 million a year through
reduced costs of providing public services.
-
- Prince disputes some studies that indicate illegal immigrants
pay more in taxes than they use in government services.
-
- "If that were true, California would be awash in
extra cash instead of having the worst deficit in the nation and in our
history," he said.
|
