Proposition 187 (CA) - High School

What is Prop. 187?

California’s Proposition 187, more commonly known as the “Save Our State” initiative, was a 1994 ballot measure seeking to deny public education, non-emergency healthcare, and several social services to undocumented immigrants. Though it was approved by 59% of voters on November 8, 1994, it was quickly blocked by federal courts, who permanently voided the law as unconstitutional.

Core Provisions

The law outlined several key measures:

• Prohibited undocumented immigrants from using non-emergency health care, social services, and public schooling from kindergarten through higher education

• Required public employees (teachers, doctors, social workers) to report individuals suspected of being in the country illegally to state and federal authorities

• Made the manufacture, sale, or use of falsified citizenship or residence documents a state felony

Outcomes

Once approved by voters, the law received immense backlash. Civil rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union were quick to file lawsuits. Federal courts eventually blocked the law’s enforcement, ruling it as unconstitutional, as regulation of immigration is an authority belonging solely to the federal government. Furthermore, the courts found that denying K-12 education violated federal supreme court precedent. In 1999, incoming Governor Gray Davis dropped the appeals, which officially ended the measure.

Political Aftermath

The situation came to be the turning point in which immigrant communities flipped California from a deeply Republican state to a Democratic stronghold.