The politics of California’s Proposition 187 in one chart
In 1994, California voters approved Proposition 187, a controversial ballot measure to deny public services, such as public education and healthcare, to people in the country illegally.
Although most of its provisions were struck down in court, passage of the initiative was a seminal event in recent California political history.
It energized a growing Latino voter population and badly damaged the image of the Republican Party, which was most closely associated with the measure, helping turn California into one of the bluest states in the country.
An effort, led by Latino lawmakers, is now underway in Sacramento to wipe Proposition 187 from the books.
One measure of the political sea change in the 20 years since the initiative passed is the number of Latino lawmakers in the Legislature then and now; with larger numbers comes greater clout.
Follow @markzbarabak for national and California politics
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