Peter Shea, who championed immigrant rights for decades as a Los Angeles attorney and led the case that overturned Proposition 187, the controversial initiative to deny government services to undocumented immigrants, died of complications from lymphoma on Tuesday at age 77.
Shea, founder and executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, has led class actions on behalf of immigrants related to access to public education, medical care, and the well-being of unaccompanied minors.
Born in South Africa to parents who fled Germany — his father was a Jewish anti-Nazi agitator — Shi moved to San Francisco as a teenager with his parents as they were packing up during apartheid. He attended the University of California at Berkeley and California Western Law School in San Diego.
After earning his law degree, Shea represented low-income immigrants at the Legal Aid Society of San Diego. In 1978, he founded the first national advocacy center dedicated to protecting immigrant rights, now known as the National Immigrant Law Center.
He was lead counsel in the case Plyler vs. Doe, a landmark 1982 Supreme Court decision that found that states could not deny undocumented children access to a free public education.
“I feel moved when I meet people who are suffering in some way that seems unnecessary, that seems to result only from the actions of some officials or bureaucratic agencies,” Xi later told The Times.
A decade later, in Flores v. Reno, Xi fought to establish national minimum standards for the treatment of detained migrant children and limits on how long they could be detained. The case remains under the supervision of U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in the Central District of California.
The Trump administration tried to overturn the Flores settlement agreement, which allows lawyers to periodically inspect detention facilities where children are held, but the move was blocked in federal court.
Shea's group filed a scathing report in 2018 that included testimony from more than 200 parents and children detained in California, Texas and other states, who described cramped cells, cold or frozen foods and lack of basic hygiene products.
Peter Shea speaks outside City Hall during a 2018 press conference about President Trump ending Temporary Protected Status for immigrants.
(Los Angeles Times)
Shea also led the case against California's 1994 law, Proposition 187, which sought to deny medical care, social services, and education to people suspected of lacking legal immigration status. The League of Latin American Citizens United Against Wilson blocked the law from taking effect, and mediation formally invalidated it several years later.
Proposition 187 was seen as a turning point in California politics, mobilizing Latinos to register to vote and contributing to a surge in Democratic wins in local and state elections. U.S. Senator Alex Padilla is one of many California leaders who say their political awakening came from their activism against Proposition 187.
“From successfully helping to stave off California’s Proposition 187 to vigorously defending the rights of immigrant children and their families in government custody, Peter has been an advocate for immigrants,” Padilla said in a statement. “Peter, an immigrant from South Africa, helped ensure equal access to public education for immigrant children and was a pioneer for constitutional rights for immigrants. His legacy will live on in communities across California and our country.”
In recent years, Xi has become a controversial figure among immigrant advocates. As the coronavirus spread through detention facilities in 2020, he came under fire from fellow lawyers who disagreed with his position that detained parents could choose between remaining detained with their children or allowing their children to be released without them. The other attorneys, from RAICES Texas and Aldea – People's Justice Center, described the decision as “approval of family separation.”
The Times reported in 2019 that Casa Libre, a shelter he established for homeless immigrant youth near MacArthur Park, failed to meet standards for state-licensed group homes and neglected children in its care.
“With Casa Libre, he just went over his head,” said Shea's ex-wife and good friend Melinda Byrd. “In the end, we finally convinced him to find another group to manage.”
Father Richard Estrada, who has worked with Shea since his days as chaplain to Spanish speakers at Los Angeles Juvenile Hall, said he disagreed with Shea's approach to certain things, like the shelter. However, he said Xi was an inspiring and courageous man.
“We have lost a human rights icon,” Estrada said Wednesday.
Shi was diagnosed with cancer late last year, according to friends and colleagues. Carlos Holguin, who has worked with him since 1977, said that Shi underwent chemotherapy and his health condition improved until the last days.
While the public knew Shea for his legal victories, Holguin said, his friends knew him for his simple acts of kindness, such as the times he fed and cleaned up a homeless man who was loitering outside their office.
Holguin said Xi was also complex, uniquely driven and a workaholic.
“I think I'm the only one who's been able to work with him for more than two or three years,” he said, laughing. “Neither of us is well. But I never doubted the goodness of his heart.
While Xi is known for his work on immigrant rights, he has also taken on legal projects on other issues. Last year, he went to Tanzania – his first time back in Africa since leaving his family – to advocate at the United Nations on behalf of Maasai herders displaced by big game hunters. He contracted COVID-19 upon his return in October. When the illness did not go away, he finally went to the doctor.
Byrd said she was with him in his final days as friends and former clients moved in and out of the UCLA hospital room.
Also in the room was a 2-by-3-foot photo of their late daughter, Alexis, who died 10 years ago at the age of 28. Byrd said her death was the greatest tragedy of his life.
Before discovering that the cancer had returned, Shi started working out again, against everyone's advice. He also made time to have fun by attending a Sly and the Family Stone show with Bird a few weeks ago.
“When he first got sick in October, with all these tubes coming out of him, he said, ‘I've been so lucky,’” Bird recalls. “He kept that attitude for the whole six months.”
Shea is survived by a sister, Nikki Arden, and two children, Michael and Alyssa Shea.
