Backers of Anti-Illegal Immigrant Petition Deliver Signatures : Initiative: Supporters claim they have enough names statewide to qualify the tough measure for the November ballot.

Bolstered by volunteers in Orange County, supporters of proposal to bar illegal immigrants in California from public hospitals and schools announced Monday they had enough signatures to qualify the initiative for the November ballot.

Wearing “Save Our State” buttons, supporters, including sponsors and authors of the initiative, gathered Monday at the Orange County registrar of voter’s office in Santa Ana to greet delivery of 124,000 signatures. Statewide, initiative backers delivered 600,000 signatures to election offices, more than the 384,974 required to put the initiative before voters.

The initiative--among the most stringent proposals put forth in the increasingly contentious immigration debate--is sponsored by Alan Nelson, Immigration and Naturalization Service commissioner under President Ronald Reagan, and Harold Ezell, INS chief for the Western states from 1983 to 1989.

If passed, the initiative would require schools to verify the immigration status of pupils and expel students whose parents cannot prove their legal status. Schools also would be required to report to law enforcement agencies the names of parents they believe are in the country illegally.

It would eliminate prenatal care to women who have no papers. Illegal immigrants could receive emergency care, but hospital officials would be required to report “persons who are apparent illegal aliens.”

“We’ve allowed California to be a welfare state for illegals too long,” Ezell said Monday.

Assemblyman Richard L. Mountjoy (R-Arcadia), who backs the initiative, said at a press conference in Santa Ana: “The Legislature in Sacramento for many years has failed to act on this issue. If the Legislature will not act, we will act . . . We don’t want any illegals here, regardless of where they are from.”

Robert Kiley, Orange County political strategist for the petition drive, said the recent debate on earthquake aid for immigrants focused attention on the initiative.

Gov. Pete Wilson, who has made unlawful immigration a centerpiece of his reelection campaign, has said that illegal immigrants and their U.S.-born children absorb $3 billion in education, health care, prison and welfare costs. Critics say the numbers ignore the economic activity and tax revenue generated by illegal immigrants.

But Wilson has not taken a position on the initiative, which has been endorsed by the state GOP.

A Times Poll in March found that 62% of respondents favor the proposed initiative, including a majority of Democrats. The Democratic Party has not taken a position on the initiative.

“It appears to be a knee-jerk reaction to ‘Yes, let’s do something about this problem,’ ” said Arturo Vargas, vice president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. “I don’t think people yet have the benefit of an analysis of how onerous this kind of Big Brother initiative is.”

Vargas said the initiative could lead to widespread discrimination against legal immigrants and even U.S. citizens of Latino descent. “If you’re brown, you’re going to be suspect in this state.”

Arturo Montez, president of the Orange County chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said Monday that the group will seek an investigation by the secretary of state into the validity of the initiative signatures and petitioners.

“LULAC will not stand by if this passes,” he continued. “We feel it is unconstitutional.”

The initiative drive got off to a slow start--petitions have been in circulation since January--but received a big boost from the state Republican Party, which spent $75,000 to send out petitions.

Court challenges seem certain if the initiative goes on the ballot and is voted into law.

The measure’s educational restrictions seem to contradict a landmark 1982 Supreme Court decision, Plyler v. Doe, which held that public schools must accept children regardless of immigration status. Initiative proponents acknowledge their desire to revisit that Supreme Court ruling, which passed by a 5-4 majority.

Illegal immigrants do not qualify for welfare and many other public benefit programs, but those who are indigent can receive free emergency and prenatal care at public hospitals. Their children are legally guaranteed public school education, and, if the children are U.S. citizens, they are eligible for welfare.