Rights Panel Voices Concerns on Prop. 187 : Immigration: Initiative could lead to harassment of Latinos, commission members say. One of the measure's authors says discrimination is not its intent.

Rights Panel Voices Concerns on Prop. 187 : Immigration: Initiative could lead to harassment of Latinos, commission members say. One of the measure’s authors says discrimination is not its intent.

By ROBERT L. JACKSON

Dec. 17, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

WASHINGTON —

Members of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission said Friday that they fear California’s Proposition 187 could foster discrimination against Latinos and other minorities solely on the basis of their appearance.

Expressions of concern came from commission Chairwoman Mary Frances Berry and veteran member Arthur A. Fletcher as the panel conducted a hearing on civil rights and immigration reforms. Berry said that “just certain people” might be harassed by being asked to prove their citizenship.

Ron Prince, who helped write the controversial proposition and successfully campaigned for its passage last month, sought to assure the commission that racial discrimination was not the intent of Proposition 187. Rather the initiative was aimed at curing “a present system that adds up to discrimination against U.S. citizens and legal residents of California” by draining off educational and other resources that properly are theirs, he said.

Prince, who served as chairman of the Save Our State committee, said, “We don’t believe that just because a person comes into the state they should have all the rights of citizens.”

Implementation of key provisions of the sweeping initiative, which would deny illegal immigrants most publicly funded services except emergency medical care, has been delayed pending the outcome of court challenges. The commission’s hearing was for informational purposes only, officials said, noting that the panel has no enforcement powers but has been concerned nationally with “the resurgence of racial and ethnic tensions.”

Complaints of alleged discrimination received by the commission are generally referred to other agencies. The panel makes periodic reports and recommendations on the status of civil rights in the nation.

Fletcher, a professor at the University of Denver and an assistant secretary of labor in the Richard Nixon Administration, said that his government experience has convinced him that anyone who looks illegal “invites a whole lot of harassment.”

Responding to his comment, Georgina Verdugo, regional counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, told the commission that in the wake of Proposition 187 “the atmosphere is wide open for harassment.”

Commission member Cruz Reynoso, a former California Supreme Court justice, noted that the initiative would deny public education to the children of illegal immigrants and said that he doubts “the value to the United States of having these children uneducated.”

Prince replied: “We do not feel that California should provide those public services for people who are here illegally.”

Prince added that severe overcrowding at some schools, which he attributed in part to the influx of illegal immigrants, harms the education of children of legal residents in California. He emphasized that “we are not opposed to legal immigration.”

Verdugo also criticized the state initiative for creating what she called “a parallel immigration enforcement scheme without due process” in which police and school administrators report people suspected of being illegal immigrants.

Prince said that “our intent is not to create a parallel system but to cooperate with the federal government by reporting these people to immigration authorities.” Agreeing with that point, Commissioner Constance Horner suggested: “It is the right of U.S. citizens to report a law they believe is being violated.”