PBS Documentary on Proposition 187 and Change in Latinx Voting in California

Look out this week for the airing of a PBS SoCal documentary, “Prop 187: The Rise of the Latino Vote.”   It traces the history of a political shift following an anti-immigrant initiative passed by the voters in a landslide more than 25 years ago.  The measure ultimately mobilized Latinos to naturalize and register to vote, forever changing California politics.

Proposition 187 was a political watershed in California, where the politics of immigration has changed dramatically.  Once an anti-sanctuary state, contemporary California has declared itself to be a sanctuary state. 

Earlier this year, the UC Davis Law Review published a symposium marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of Prop 187’s passage.  In that issue, I looked at what the legacy of Proposition 187 might be for the entire United States:

“This Article critically examines how Proposition 187 set in motion a chain of events that forever transformed California politics. That history poses an important — and seemingly incongruous — series of questions for the future of U.S. politics: will the aggressive enforcement measures of the Trump administration have political ramifications for the entire nation similar to those that Proposition 187 had on California? Might the responses to President Trump’s immigration policies lead to a political realignment on a national scale similar to that which occurred in California?”

KJ