Northridge : Conference to Address Legacy of Prop. 187

The legacy of Proposition 187 and the consequences of the California voter-approved initiative that organizers consider “anti-immigrant” will be examined Saturday at a daylong conference at Cal State Northridge, the university announced last week.

Sponsored by the Central American Resource Center of Los Angeles, known as CARECEN, “International Perspectives on Immigration: The Aftermath of Proposition 187” will explore both local and global repercussions of the measure that would ban illegal immigrants from receiving public education, non-emergency health care and social welfare services. A federal judge is expected to rule on the constitutionality of the bitterly debated initiative in the next few weeks.

“We want people to be aware of recent anti-immigrant measures and the consequences of Prop. 187,” said CARECEN’s Carlos H. Vaquerano. Organizers are expecting more than 400 people to attend the event.

The conference’s 10 a.m. session will look at local response to the initiative, with speakers including Manuel Pastor, economist with Occidental College’s International Public Affairs Center; Viviana Andrade, director of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund’s immigration program; Gilbert Cedillo, general manager of the Service Employees International Union’s Local 660, and Joe Hicks, executive director of the Multi-Cultural Collaborative. Author and television commentator Ruben Martinez will moderate.

The 1 p.m. session will examine international ramifications, with speakers to include Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, leader of the Democratic Revolutionary Party of Mexico, and Ruben Zamora, leader of the Democratic Convergence Party of El Salvador.

The conference will begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in the Shoshone Room of CSUN’s Satellite Student Union at the corner of Zelzah Avenue and Lassen Street. Admission is free. For more information, contact CARECEN at (213) 385-7800, Ext. 134.