How Trump's Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Mirrors A 1994 California Proposition
Written by Dina Radtke
Published
As presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump campaigns in California for the state’s June 7 primary, various Hispanic figures have pointed out the similarities between the candidate’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and California’s Proposition 187. The ballot measure, which passed in 1994 and was eventually struck down by the courts, barred immigrants in the country illegally from accessing certain public services in California. Proposition 184 galvanized Latino voters against the GOP. Hispanics are pointing out in the media that Trump’s xenophobic messages could have the same effect on a national scale.
Expert Links GOP’s Decline In California To The Galvanization Of Latino Voters Against Proposition 187
NPR: Political Scientist Links GOP Decline In California “To The 187 Campaign.” As reported by NPR on September 15, 2015, in 1994, during his re-election campaign, Republican Gov. Pete Wilson pushed the anti-immigrant proposition 187, which was meant to “deny public services including health care and education” to undocumented immigrants. After voters passed the measure at, a federal district court overturned it, finding 187 unconstitutional . However, according to political scientist David Damore, the electoral effect was increased registration and turnout among Latino voters, which costed Republicans many subsequent elections in the state. From NPR’s September 2015 report:
Anyone who was in California in 1994 probably remembers the infamous campaign commercial for Wilson's re-election. “They keep coming,” intoned the narrator over grainy black and white video of people dashing into traffic, as they cross the border from Mexico. “Two million illegal immigrants in California,” he says over ominous music.
Then Wilson appears on screen saying, “I'm working to deny state services to illegal immigrants. Enough is enough.”
Wilson was linking himself to Proposition 187, a ballot measure to deny public services, including health care and education, to people in the country illegally. It won overwhelmingly and Wilson did, too. But 187 was thrown out by the courts.
And over the past two decades, Republican registration in California has plummeted. It's now just 28 percent.
Political scientist David Damore traces the party's decline to the 187 campaign.
“The moment when the Latino population is about ready to explode in California and have an impact on politics, the Republicans were pushing a very, very hostile agenda,” said Damore. “The end result is, it's no longer a competitive state.”
Damore is a senior analyst for Latino Decisions, a research and polling organization. He co-authored a study called the “Prop 187 Effect.” One of those effects is the increase in voter registration and turnout among California Latinos.
Damore said his research also found that “folks who were not naturalized citizens, they increasingly became citizens so they could participate in the political process.”
Now all California statewide offices — from governor to insurance commissioner — are held by Democrats. Democrats also have overwhelming majorities in both houses of the state Legislature and in California's congressional delegation. [NPR, 9/15/15]
Hispanics In The Media Are Comparing Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric With California’s Prop. 187
Noticiero Telemundo: Former Protester Of Proposition 187 Says Trump’s Movement Is “Sharply Fascist.” Telemundo’s Edgar Muñoz reported that Trump’s “anti-immigrant rhetoric has awoken a sleeping giant in Hollywood.” Muñoz asked Juan José Gutiérrez, one of the lead protesters against Proposition 187, if “Trump’s positions are stronger than those of Proposition 187,” and Gutiérrez responded that Trump’s positions “represent the worst the Republican Party can offer,” adding that the Trump movement has “clear characteristics” of fascism. From the May 31 edition of Telemundo’s Noticiero Telemundo (transcript translated from Spanish):
FELICIDAD AVELEYRA (HOST): Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant positions are worrying even Hispanic leaders within the Republican Party. Some think that this is driving an opposition movement in California as big as the one generated in 1994 against Proposition 187 that pulled millions of Latinos to the streets [to protest]. Edgar Muñoz is in Los Angeles with more.
EDGAR MUÑOZ (REPORTER): A painting of Donald Trump sparked confrontation between a war veteran and an artist on the famous sidewalk of Hollywood.
JOHN GREENWOOD: They are here illegally. They're criminals.
MUÑOZ: “Illegal immigrants are criminals,” says John Greenwood, paraphrasing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
This anti-immigrant rhetoric has awoken a sleeping giant in Hollywood says Juan José Gutiérrez who was one of the first activists in 1994 against the Proposition 187 and who mobilized millions of immigrants because it sought to cancel services to undocumented immigrants in the state.Do you think Donald Trump’s positions are stronger than those of Proposition 187?
JUAN JOSÉ GUTIÉRREZ: They don't only represent the worst the Republican Party can offer, but we are talking about a movement with characteristics that are clearly and sharply fascist, and that is so dangerous here as well as in any other part of the world. [Telemundo, Noticiero Telemundo, 5/31/16]
Univision’s Enrique Acevedo: “To Hispanic America, Trump Is The New Proposition 187.” Univision late-night news anchor Enrique Acevedo pointed to statistics showing that Republican anti-immigrant policies have energized the Latino electorate against the GOP. Acevedo noted in an April 26 Fusion piece that this trend was visible “in 1996,” when “an unprecedented 72% of Latinos voted to reelect Bill Clinton.” According to Acevedo, the surge that “was propelled by opposing” Prop.187:
Back in 1996 an unprecedented 72% of Latinos voted to reelect Bill Clinton over Republican candidate Bob Dole. It was a race that marked the birth of the modern-day Hispanic electorate. Clinton’s edge was propelled by opposing an anti-immigration ballot initiative in California known as the “Save Our State,” or Proposition 187.
The California ballot measure, supported by Republican Governor Pete Wilson, denied services such as public education and healthcare to undocumented immigrants.
[...]
More than a decade later Republicans still didn’t get it—or were simply too timid to stand up against the most reactionary elements of GOP, such as the Tea Party crowd. Between 2010 and 2011, Republican-controlled state legislatures around the country approved more than 160 anti-immigration laws, including the infamous SB-1070 in Arizona and Alabama’s HB 56, which racially profiles undocumented immigrants.
[...]
Trump kicked off his campaign last June by blasting Mexican immigrants as drug-traffickers and rapists, calling for mass deportations and the construction of a “beautiful” wall across the U.S.-Mexico border paid by the Mexican government. Trump’s campaign recently outlined [how] it would pressure the Mexican government into paying for its ridiculous plan by preventing undocumented immigrants in the United States from sending money back home to their families.
[...]
To Hispanic America, Trump is the new Proposition 187.
More than 13 million Latino voters are expected to cast their ballots in November. Latinos could decide key races in states like Florida, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio and Virginia. [Fusion, 4/26/16]
Maria Teresa Kumar On MSNBC: “We’re About To Relive A Proposition 187 Moment … On A National Level.” Voto Latino CEO Maria Teresa Kumar compared Trump’s current anti-immigrant rhetoric to the “Proposition 187 moment in California, when Pete Wilson all of the sudden started racially profiling Latinos.” From the May 3 edition of MSNBC’s Hardball:
MARIA TERESA KUMAR: I actually think that Hillary’s a stronger candidate and the reason being that we’re not taking into account the individuals that if it’s Bernie against Trump, there are independent and Republicans that just don’t want to vote for Trump, but Bernie, actually because his policies are so left, will actually incite them to vote for him instead of for Hillary.
CHRIS MATTHEWS (HOST): Well, why do national polls not show that? They don’t show that, they show Bernie strong.
KUMAR: And I also think that at the end of the day, people keep talking about the coalition of the people of color that are right now with Bernie. They undervalue the whole wave of individuals that are all of a sudden going to wake up tomorrow and say, “Holy moly, it’s Trump.” So they are actually going to start voting for whoever the Democratic person is because they do not want -- what I keep saying is, we’re about to relive a Proposition 187 moment in California, when Pete Wilson all of the sudden started racially profiling Latinos, and then it turned California solidly blue. We are about to experience that on a national level. [MSNBC, Hardball, 5/3/16]
LUIS J. RODRIGUEZ: You know what? I don't believe that it's too late to say that they're sorry. It's never too late. But it's becoming too late for them to do something that's going to convince all of Americans that he is the person who should be entrusted with the safety of our families and of our nation. I've been a public defender here in Los Angeles County for over two decades, and I can tell you that I've dealt with many issues with regards to domestic violence and abusive relationships. Right now, unfortunately, the Republican Party is in an abusive relationship with Mr. Trump. Because they are co-dependents in that every single time that this man opens his mouth about Muslims, about women, about the disabled, about veterans and Mexicans, of course, they come up with an excuse. They say, look, ah, it's not that bad. He meant this. He's really not a bigot. But that is the typical, and not typical, but stereotypical, view of what an abusive relationship is. And you know, one other thing, Chris, is this. The Republican national party should look at what happened in California in 1994. And look at the prop -- what I'm calling the Prop 187 effect. Back then, Proposition 187 passed, not overwhelmingly, but it meant to take away certain rights or services for undocumented immigrants. Governor [Pete] Wilson and the California Republican Party unfortunately embraced that, and what it did, it did three things. And my parents were the perfect example. My parents had been legal permanent residents for over three decades. And what they did was, first thing, they became US citizens. Second, they registered to vote, and the third thing, which I believe is going to happen to the rest of the country, they became Democrats. That is what's going to happen to the national Republican Party if they do not put an end to the rhetoric, not only rhetoric, but the actions of Mr. Trump. [CNN, New Day, 6/6/16]