Boy in Prop. 187 Controversy Mourned : Rites: Family, friends pay last respects to the 12-year-old whose parents say they delayed medical treatment out of fear of deportation.

More than 100 friends, schoolmates and fellow soccer players filed past the casket of Julio Cano on Monday to pay their respects to the boy whose death rekindled the debate over Proposition 187.

The 12-year-old’s parents, who are illegal immigrants, have said they delayed seeking medical treatment for him because they feared that Proposition 187 would require a hospital or publicly funded clinic to report them to immigration officials. The boy died Nov. 19, a day after his parents gathered enough cash to take him to a private neighborhood clinic.

Early autopsy results indicate that he had acute leukemia and a secondary infection. It remains unknown whether earlier medical intervention could have saved him.

Along with thrusting the family into the political spotlight, the boy’s death prompted an outpouring of support from firefighters, the boy’s school and members of the family’s church, who have donated enough money to help fly the body to Mexico for burial.

“We finally feel that everything will be over soon. Our son can finally rest,” the father said. “This whole time he has still been in the morgue, but at last he will arrive in Acapulco (Tuesday), and our families will receive him there.”

As Julio’s mother cradled her youngest baby and sobbed Monday, scores of boys dressed in soccer uniforms filed into the mortuary to say goodby. Julio had played in the same Salvation Army-sponsored league as the young mourners.

Julio’s parents said they did not know that a restraining order temporarily bars enforcement of most provisions of Proposition 187, the initiative approved by voters this month that would deny all non-emergency health care and other public services to undocumented immigrants.

Opponents of the measure have called Julio’s death a harbinger, especially if the health aspects of the measure eventually are enforced. But Proposition 187 proponents say those against the measure are using his death as a political ploy.

“I think it’s outrageous that the no-on-187 people used this tragedy as a way to vent their anger against the will of the people,” said Harold Ezell, a former federal immigration official and co-author of Proposition 187.

“I don’t believe (the family) stayed away because of a proposition that is not even implemented. . . . If they did, which I doubt, it shows the damage and fear that was put into these people (by 187 opponents). If there’s blood on anybody’s hands, it’s theirs.”

The Salvation Army Church in Anaheim, which the family has attended for the past 1 1/2 years, held a funeral service Sunday.

Times staff writer Julie Marquis contributed to this story.