California's Proposition 187 & Illegal Immigrants

More generally, the controversy over Proposition 187, which was only sharpened by passage of the measure, has brought increased attention to the whole question of immigration, legal and illegal alike, a question fraught with issues of race, class, and economics. The issue has already had a presumptive impact on national politics. Two nationally prominent conservative Republicans, Jack Kemp and William Bennett, both of whom had been widely regarded as possible 1996 presidential prospects, sharply criticized Proposition 187 prior to its enactment and were criticized in turn by many Republicans in California (Buckley, 1994, p. 78). Both subsequently declared that they would not offer themselves as candidates for the Republican nomination, in part, arguably, beca

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grants come to the United States to find work and that most of them do work or are family members supported by workers. Immigrants in general, legal or illegal, are therefore a net contributor to the American economy. As for the use of public services by illegal immigrants, these immigrants are in fact paying their share of the cost of these services through taxation. Except for whatever share of their incomes they send back to relatives in their native countries, their incomes are spent on goods and services, for which they pay California state sales tax. Unless they are employed wholly in the "underground" economy, paid in cash, Social Security taxes are deducted from their wages, though they will never be able to collect Social Security. While few illegal immigrants are likely to be property owners, the rent they pay contributes to property taxes. Thus, except for income taxes (a minor factor for low-income workers in any case), illegal immigrants in fact pay about as much in taxes as their legal counterparts. Moreover, even before Proposition 187, they were likely to use relatively fewer public services since illegal immigrants tend to avoid contact with public officials of any sort as much as possible. More broadly,
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Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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