California Proposition Of 187 Essay

California Proposition of 187, which is also know as the Save Our State initiative was an initiative that was passed by voters in November 8th 1994. The law aimed to reduce the state cost by denying public services to illegal immigrants. It prohibits state or local government agencies from providing illegal immigrants with public services, such as public education, emergency medical care and other social services. It would also have established the system of screening citizenship across the state of California. Government agencies and schools were required to check the legal status of people before they can benefit from the services and had to report those who might be illegal immigrants to the state. Those who uses or creates documents such …show more content…
However, a few days after it was passed, some organizations such as Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and American Civil Liberties filed lawsuits against the law claiming it was unconstitutional. Due to the lawsuits, Federal Judge Matthew Byrne decided to place the temporary restraint order on the law to prevent the enforcement on November 11, 1994. In December 1994, Judge Mariana Pfaelzer put the permanent restraint order on it. This restraint order prevented the implementation of most of the provisions of the proposition 187. In November 1997, Judge Pfaelzer ruled that proposition 187 was unconstitutional based on the federal laws and it violated the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment. Equal protection clause guarantees everyone in the country has equal protections and rights whether they are illegal immigrants or not. According to the Washington Post, in her ruling, Judge Pfaelzer stated that “California is powerless to enact its own legislative scheme to regulate immigration. It is likewise powerless to enact its own legislative scheme to regulate alien access to public