Immigrant Initiative’s Foes Launch Campaign : Election: Opponents of proposed measure that would cut education and health services say they have $600,000 in pledges.

Denouncing a proposed California ballot initiative on immigration, opponents of the so-called “save our state” measure have kicked off a campaign to secure help from a coalition of lawmakers, unions, health professionals, teachers, grass-roots groups, clerics and others.

After an initial meeting here Wednesday, organizers said they had received commitments for $600,000 in donations to fight the wide-ranging initiative, which, among other things, would require the expulsion of illegal immigrants from California’s public schools. Opponents, who formed a fund-raising committee this week called “No on SOS,” say they will need to raise $3 million to $4 million to pay for a statewide effort including polling, advertising and other campaign tactics.

“SOS is bad public policy, and we’re united against it,” said Assemblyman Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the Latino Legislative Caucus, who convened Tuesday’s session.

Joining Latino lawmakers and activists in criticizing the proposal were Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) and Assemblywoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), who heads the Legislative Black Caucus.

“This initiative picks on women and children rather than dealing with the economic reasons people come to the U.S. illegally,” Lee said.

Among the groups lined up against the initiative, opponents said, are the California Medical Assn., the California Teachers Assn., the Roman Catholic Church, numerous grass-roots organizations and many unions.

Supporters say the initiative will force illegal immigrants to return to their homelands by cutting off benefits such as education and non-emergency health care, while enlisting local police forces, schools, hospitals and clinics in the effort to identify those in the United States illegally. Backers blame illegal immigrants for a wide range of societal woes, including economic decline, crime, poor schools, environmental degradation and what they call a general erosion in California living standards.

“We’ve got to get control of this problem,” said Harold Ezell, a former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service official who is a co-sponsor of the measure.

But critics say the drastic proposal would create an underclass of uneducated youths and lead to the spread of communicable diseases by immigrants denied treatment or afraid to seek medical help. If the measure passes, opponents plan to seek court orders blocking implementation of various sections, notably those denying public education to undocumented pupils and requiring that schools and health providers report suspected illegal immigrants to U.S. authorities.

“What this initiative will do is create two classes of people: one who is suspect and the other who is not,” said Dean Tipps, executive secretary of the statewide council of the Service Employees International Union, which represents about 300,000 private- and public-sector workers statewide.

Initiative backers said they were not fazed by the efforts of prominent Democrats and others to organize opposition to the initiative, which is favored by Gov. Pete Wilson and other Republican lawmakers.

“Californians have been fooled long enough by these so-called coalitions that promote illegal immigration,” said Ezell, now a Newport Beach-based immigration consultant assisting wealthy foreigners seeking U.S. visas. “All the liberal open-border folks will get organized, and the middle-of-the-road taxpayers are going to say, ‘We’ve had it.’ ”

Both sides are operating under the assumption that the initiative will appear on the November ballot. However, county registrars throughout the state are still verifying the more than 600,000 signatures submitted by proposal supporters last month. Ballot qualification requires 385,000 valid signatures.