Originally posted by: BoomerD
Actually, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 was a Republican sponsored bill. AKA the 1986 Simpson-Mazzoli Immigration Reform and Control Act,
"Senator Alan Simpson, R-Wyoming and Representative Romano Mazzoli, D-Kentucky, recognized that illegal immigration could not be stopped entirely at the borders of our nation and proposed a different approach to curbing the problem. The Simpson-Mazzoli Act imposed sanctions on employers who knowingly hired illegal aliens. It also offered legal amnesty to immigrants who could prove that they had been living continuously in the U.S. since 1982, a concession to the reality that illegal immigrants who had been living in the U.S. for a long period of time had submerged in society and would remain difficult to identify."
And from Fox news:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,122297,00.html
"Reagan also left his mark on America?s immigration policy. The country has spent much of the last week looking back upon Reagan?s two administrations, and it?s worth looking back at what has happened to the nation's immigration policy since the historic immigration reforms Reagan signed into law in 1986. As well-intentioned and rational as they were, the 1986 immigration reforms?and what has happened since they became law?show just how damaging another illegal immigration amnesty (search) would be to our country.
In 1986, there were about 2.5 million illegal aliens in the U.S. who Congress and the Reagan administration regarded as being ?safe? ? that is, not having committed serious crimes or otherwise being dangerous, and having sufficient ties to American life to be allowed to remain here. Many members of Congress, chiefly Democratic members, regarded the amnesty of these illegal aliens a sine qua non of any attempt to reform our immigration laws. Reagan recognized this, and, being the optimist that he was, saw something humane and profitable in affording this relatively small group of illegal aliens legal status.
In exchange for legal status for the group, Reagan insisted that the magnet attracting illegal aliens to the United States be removed by extinguishing any incentive for U.S. employers to hire illegal aliens. In tandem with the amnesty, Reagan campaigned for employer sanctions for hiring illegal aliens, sanctions so stringent that many at the time regarded them as draconian.
Reagan reasoned that if an employer were fined for hiring an illegal alien (as much as $1 million in the worst cases), any payroll savings achieved by the hiring would be wiped out by the fine. In effect, it would be more expensive to hire illegal aliens than to hire Americans or lawful permanent residents. The few illegal aliens who continued to take the gamble and cross the border would be intercepted by a robust and more generously funded Border Patrol.
While Reagan?s 1986 immigration reforms (search) can at least be called rational, they were a failure. Today, there are between 8 million and 11 million illegal aliens in the United States. The majority of them crossed our southern border and has found employment ? illegal employment, but employment nonetheless. This is attributed to Sen. Ted Kennedy?s eventual gutting of the enforcement mechanism for Reagan's employer sanctions, and successive administrations refusing to give our Border Patrol the resources it needs to achieve its mission.
In 1986, though, President Reagan showed a clear recognition between wrong and right. If U.S. employers were to gain from the employment of people whose very presence in our country was a crime, then they would at least have to pay for it.
Facebook
Twitter