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For America’s Sake, Florida Needs California’s Proposition 187
American Thinker ^ | 3 Feb, 2026 | Joseph Ford Cotto

Posted on 02/03/2026 5:02:53 AM PST by MtnClimber

Florida stands at a consequential moment in the national debate over illegal immigration.

The state has already moved decisively to protect taxpayers, reinforce the rule of law, and support federal agents. What comes next should be durable, voter-approved, and immune to the shifting moods of Washington.

A Florida-tailored constitutional amendment modeled on the core framework of California’s Proposition 187 represents the logical next step, not as nostalgia, but as evolution.

Properly adapted to Florida’s legal system and adopted through the state’s referendum process, such a measure would anchor immigration control in constitutional certainty. Simultaneously, public confidence would be bolstered, after being shaken by the Minnesota episodes and their mixed response inside the Republican Party.

The urgency is not abstract. Late last month, prominent Florida Republicans publicly criticized the Donald Trump administration’s immigration stance following the firestorm in Minnesota.

Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia told The New York Times that anti-illegal alien measures had “gone too far.”

SNIP

The path forward is not retreat, hesitation, or rhetorical softening. It is clarity. A Florida constitutional amendment modeled on Proposition 187 would shift the focus from theatrical federal raids to clear, lawful, state-grounded rules that protect public resources while crippling illegal immigration.

California’s Proposition 187, passed by voters in 1994 by a near-20-point margin, sought to deny illegal aliens access to most state-funded public services. It required verification and reporting of immigration status by state and local agencies.

Its provisions included barring illegal immigrants from non-emergency public benefits, denying non-emergency publicly funded healthcare, restricting access to public education, mandating cooperation with federal authorities, and imposing penalties for false documentation and noncompliant public employees.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: california; florida; illegalimmigration; prop187; proposition187
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To: JayGalt

“””””I have no wish to be a naysayer but the passing of thos proposition in California furnished no protection to Californians. “””””

I remember when we voted it in and then watched as the Democrats managed to prevent it from being used and overcame it, but Florida isn’t California.


21 posted on 02/03/2026 6:54:59 AM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: MtnClimber

When Prop 187 was being pushed in California the anti-187 left paid David Duke $5,000.00 to come to California to campaign FOR it, he accepted of course, and of course it served the left.


22 posted on 02/03/2026 6:59:03 AM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: MtnClimber

Won’t some judge just block it, as happened in CA?


23 posted on 02/03/2026 7:29:31 AM PST by Nea Wood ( I remember America.)
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To: MtnClimber

Total horseshitte.

CaCaLand judges ruled long ago (on attempts to stop the BulletTrain corruption by politicos) that voter propositions have no legal basis — to enforce changes all must go back to the Assembly and get made into a law.

Also, regardless of this supposed proposition, illegals are issued drivers’ licenses and registered to vote — so that politicos can harvest mailin ballots. And, some are “elected” to local political offices like city councils. None are sent back to originating country so long as they claim to be refugees fleeing some sort of disadvantage by continuing to live in their shitteole country. All are offered SNAP and free health care at the expense of the other 49 states.

Doing anything like this is Fl will ruin that state, too.


24 posted on 02/03/2026 7:52:35 AM PST by bobbo666
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To: MtnClimber

Yeah, it took only one day for California’s prop 187 to be stopped by ONE federal judge:

“Federal courts blocked enforcement, ruling that immigration regulation is a federal responsibility and that key provisions violated the U.S. Constitution—particularly the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as established in Plyler v. Doe (1982), which guarantees children access to public education regardless of immigration status.

In 1999, Governor Gray Davis officially ended the state’s legal defense of the law, effectively voiding Proposition 187.”

Governor Gray Davis was recalled, I believe partly b/c of his inaction on Prop 187, which passed by a 57-41 margin.


25 posted on 02/03/2026 8:24:10 AM PST by Bon of Babble (You Say You Want a Revolution?)
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To: ansel12

Thank Goodness!
Right now Florida is a point of light.


26 posted on 02/03/2026 8:25:43 AM PST by JayGalt ( “The strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must”.)
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To: Nea Wood

My memory is that a judge sat on it for years until she got the political/politicians situation she wanted, by sitting on it an appeal to a decision couldn’t be launched, or something like that.


27 posted on 02/03/2026 8:54:10 AM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: MtnClimber
passed by (California) voters in 1994 by a near-20-point margin, ... Its provisions included barring illegal immigrants from non-emergency public benefits, denying non-emergency publicly funded healthcare, restricting access to public education, mandating cooperation with federal authorities, and imposing penalties for false documentation and noncompliant public employees.

So, what happened? Did the Democrats just ignore the law because this sure as hell isn't what I think is happening in California.

28 posted on 02/03/2026 9:18:34 AM PST by libertylover (The HBM (Has Been Media) is almost all AGENDA-DRIVEN and HATE-DRIVEN, not-truth driven.)
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To: MtnClimber

VOTERS PASSED IT———

CALIF POLITICIANS NEVER ENFORCED IT


29 posted on 02/03/2026 10:38:34 AM PST by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
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To: JayGalt

I have always believed that the proposition gave the non-voting immigrants the necessary impetus to take advantage of CA weakness and register and vote.

This is why CA will never agree to require voter ID


30 posted on 02/03/2026 10:43:34 AM PST by KC_for_Freedom (retired aerospace engineer and CSP who also taught)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...

31 posted on 02/03/2026 11:17:24 AM PST by SunkenCiv (NeverTrumpin' -- it's not just for DNC shills anymore -- oh, wait, yeah it is.)
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To: Rockingham
The problem is that Florida’s agriculture, tourism, restaurant, and landscaping businesses are heavily reliant on illegals for cheap labor.

Add healthcare to the list. Americans aren't lining up to clean bedpans.

32 posted on 02/03/2026 1:09:22 PM PST by yelostar (Mike Johnson on Greenland: "..national security and critical minerals and many other reasons.”)
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To: yelostar

Not always. I know of a hospital system that adopted a strict e-verify requirement because a ring of illegals had gotten into their hospital supplies and stolen them blind.


33 posted on 02/03/2026 2:30:59 PM PST by Rockingham
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