IMMIGRANT HEALTH: Latino Caucus Urges Davis to Drop Prop. 187 Defense
A "political tug-of-war is now emerging between Democratic progressives demanding change and the more cautious, moderate wing" in California, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The battle lines were drawn this weekend at the state Democratic convention where the party's Latino caucus urged Gov. Gray Davis to drop the state's defense of Proposition 187, the 1994 initiative that "called for undocumented immigrants to be denied public education, welfare and nonemergency health care." In an unanimous vote, the Latino caucus urged Davis to recognize that Prop. 187, which the state is defending in the State Court of Appeals, was created "to foment anti-immigrant sentiment and racial hatred," and "was used to vilify California Latinos." Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) said, "What we should say is that we're not going to spend one penny of government money to appeal this decision." Davis, who "has preached an end to 'the era of wedge issue politics,'" said he was "going to make a decision that's in the best interests of the people of California ... in the next 30 days" (Gledhill/Marinucci/Wildermuth, 3/29).
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