Reversing laws aimed @ illegal immigration

Two decades after California voters took a hard line on illegal immigration, affirmative action and bilingual education, a rising bloc of Latino lawmakers is seeking to eliminate those laws. The move coincides with the 20th anniversary of the passage of Proposition 187 — the landmark initiative withholding public services such as healthcare and education from those in the country illegally.

Even 20 years later, the feelings about Proposition 187 remain strong on all fronts; particularly after seeing more and more of California’s budget go towards programs catering to illegal aliens. Prop. 187 barred healthcare, education and other public services for people in the country illegally. It required doctors, teachers and others to report suspected violators of immigration laws.

Largely struck down as unconstitutional, Prop. 187 was approved by 59% of voters in 1994. But its passage led to a surge of voter registration and political advocacy among Latinos.

In the 20 years since, Latinos have become the largest ethnic group in the state, and their share of the electorate has doubled as has their number in the Legislature (though the largest ethnic group in the state that actually turns out to vote remains Asian).

Two years after 187, voters approved Proposition 209, which said race could not be used  in providing preferences in college admissions and public hiring decisions. And in 1998, Proposition 227, an initiative that effectively banned bilingual education in public schools, passed with 61% of the vote.

Now Sen. Kevin De León (D-Los Angeles) is pushing a bill to strip much of the language of Proposition 187 from the books. The bulk of the law was overturned by a federal court, but references to it remain in the state code. Oddly, two provisions that survived court scrutiny dealing with false residency papers would remain law under De León's bill.

In addition, a measure by Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) would repeal parts of Proposition 209 in order to allow affirmative action back into college admissions. And Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Los Angeles) is seeking to undo and amend portions of Proposition 227 to expand access to multilingual educational programs. Both bills, should they pass the Legislature, would need to be approved by voters in 2016.

But revisiting these issues is not without risk for the Dems. Hernandez's measure provoked a backlash this year among Asian Americans who perceived their community could lose college admission slots if, instead of educational performance and grades, affirmative action preferences were reconstituted.

The misstep prompted questions of overreach. Ward Connerly, a former UC regent who backed Proposition 209, said he thinks efforts to repeal portions of it will backfire.

"Our side will argue they are opening the door to discrimination," he said. "And racial discrimination is abhorrent to most Californians." It's going to be an interesting end of the legislative session this year, si?