14, 1994, a federal judge in Los Angeles, Mariana Pfaelzer, in the case of League of United Latin American Citizens v. Wilson, struck down most of the provisions of 187 (Feldman A1).
The ultimate appeal of 187 is to be found in the fiscal woes of the State of California and a deep wellspring of public discontent with the manner in which Congress and the President have been dealing with the problem of illegal immigration. Between 1987 and 1991, the tax revenues of the State of California increased by four percent per annum but expenditures during that same period rose by six percent per annum. The 1995 1996 budgetary deficit is $3,000,000,000. Since Proposition 13 requires a two thirds majority of the voters to approve a tax increase, the State has focused on budget cuts. Wilson, who was behind in the early polls to his opponent in the 1994 gubernatorial race, Kathleen Brown, won in part because he stirred the anger of California voters against the federal government which Wilson blamed for California's fiscal plight. The principal reasons for the deficit were the deep 1990-1994 recession and rising expenditures for "runaway welfare costs," expenditures for health, welfare and prisons which in 1994-1995 accounted for 34 percent of the state's general budget (The missing $3 billion 30). A Rand Corporation report said that California by the year 2002 would have to turn away 300,000 students from its state university system for lack of funds (California propositions 60). Wilson said in 1994 that California has spent one billion dollars over five years to imprison criminal aliens, two billion dollars per year to educate the children of undocumented immigrants and $400 million on emergency medical services for illegal immigrants, a 20 fold increase over six years (Wang 34). Some of Wilson's figures may have been exaggerated, but the Economist estimated that "on balance, illegal immigration is probably costing American taxpayers $2...