This paper examines the effectiveness of social services provided to Mexican immigrants in rural California. In addition, the paper offers recommendations for service delivery models and for rethinking the objectives of immigrant social policy. At the most basic level, current social program planning and associated analyses of policy options fail to address important demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of California immigrants. One example is Proposition 187, in which state government overstated the cost of providing education to immigrant children by approximately $800 million per year. Increasingly, immigrants are blamed for the tax burden of inadequate social service programs that are rarely used by immigrants. Recommendations include developing social service programs that are proactive and tailored to the needs of the immigrant population; shifting from individual case management to multitiered community interventions; actively seeking input from communities when developing programs; formulating immigrant policy in multigenerational terms; and orienting social policy toward effecting fundamental changes in community, family, and individual circumstances. The remainder of the paper examines current provision and proposed changes in California's public health initiatives, welfare programs, K-12 education, housing and community development programs, and agribusiness. This paper concludes that successful social policy for immigrants should facilitate functional social integration, and that radical decentralization is the key to cost-effective relevant programs. (LP)