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  1. #1
    Senior Member Brian503a's Avatar
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    Immigration Law of 1986 Shaping Current Debate

    http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/cohen042506.html

    Immigration Law of 1986 Shaping Current Debate
    BY ROBERT COHEN
    c.2006 Newhouse News Service

    WASHINGTON -- The president was trying to get Congress to confront the nation's immigration crisis. He urged lawmakers to legalize millions of undocumented foreigners and take firm steps to stem the flow of illegal aliens into the United States.

    "This country has lost control of its borders. And no country can sustain that kind of position," he said.

    Sounds a lot like President Bush today. But that was President Ronald Reagan 20 years ago, making the case for sweeping changes in the nation's immigration policy.

    The result was the Immigration Reform and Control Act, signed by Reagan in 1986 and hailed as a major achievement. It was going to bring people out of the shadows and make them productive members of society. It would crack down on employers who hired illegals and discourage newcomers from crossing the border.

    It did not work out that way.

    As Congress returns this week for another try at immigration change, the failings of the 1986 law form the backdrop to the debate.

    Those favoring more restrictive immigration policies, mostly conservative Republicans in the House and Senate, see 1986 as justification for taking a hard line against a new legalization program and focusing strictly on border and workplace enforcement.

    Immigrant rights groups concede the need for stronger enforcement on all fronts, but say 1986 also showed reform will succeed only if it includes broad legalization and worker-visa programs to meet the country's labor needs.

    Some experts worry history may repeat itself.

    "I am highly skeptical that the bills being debated in Congress will be effective in dealing with our immigration problems," said Susan Martin, head of the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University, a nonpartisan research organization. "I am not sure we have learned very many lessons from 1986. It could be deja vu all over again."

    When the 1986 law took effect, there were an estimated 5 million illegal foreigners in the country, most from Mexico. About 2.7 million of them obtained legal status and have become part of the American mainstream.

    But of the more than 2 million ineligible for legalization, most are believed to have remained here, forming the nucleus of an illegal population that has grown to almost 12 million.

    Michael Fix of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, an independent think tank, said the "grand bargain" of the 1986 law was the granting of amnesty to large numbers of illegal immigrants while for the first time making it a crime for employers to hire those here illegally.

    "We really only got half of the bargain," Fix said. "We got legalization, but we never got enforcement."

    Fix said business groups never wanted employer sanctions that included fines and possible jail time for repeat offenders; immigrant advocates worried a system of employer checks would prompt discrimination against Hispanics and other minorities; and civil libertarians feared it would lead to creation of a national ID card.

    As a result, Fix said, there was no political will to enforce the law or develop an effective system to verify the legal status of immigrants seeking work. A booming market in fraudulent documents also was created.

    The Government Accountability Office, a watchdog agency for Congress, reported in November that immigration work site enforcement always has been "a low priority."

    The GAO said that in 1999, the immigration service had only 240 workplace inspectors to check some 8 million employers; by 2003 there were only 90. The number of workplace citations decreased from 417 in 1999 to just three in 2004.

    "The illegal alien population has kept getting larger and larger because all of the special interest groups that weigh in day-to-day on immigration want more immigration and looser enforcement, and there has been no countervailing force," said Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies. His group favors tough enforcement and opposes legalization.

    The House of Representatives in December approved legislation that would strengthen the border with new fences, create a computerized worker verification system and make illegal aliens -- and those who assist them -- felons.

    House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said he would never want to repeat what happened in 1986 with liberal legalization and no enforcement, calling it "counterproductive and embarrassing."

    "It is important to do the border security and the employer sanctions first. And if we stopped encouraging the flow of illegal immigrants across the border, then we can figure out what to do with the 11 million who are already here," Sensenbrenner said earlier this month.

    The Senate has crafted a more comprehensive approach, including stronger border and interior security, worker verification, beefed up employer sanctions, a special immigrant farm worker category and a three-tiered legalization program. Although the compromise bill had bipartisan support, it failed to win quick passage earlier this month.

    Doris Meissner, who headed the Immigration and Naturalization Service during the Clinton administration, said there is a consensus in the post-Sept. 11 era for stronger border enforcement and employer sanctions, and a clear understanding that a system is needed for employers to verify the legal status of workers.

    But Meissner is among those who believe that without a workable legalization plan, the enforcement system will be overwhelmed in the face of some 11 million to 12 million illegal aliens.

    Twenty years after the last major overhaul, Meissner said: "We know what went wrong and what the fixes are. We have to make the corrections and take a comprehensive approach."

    April 25, 2006
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  2. #2
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    Twenty years after the last major overhaul, Meissner said: "We know what went wrong and what the fixes are. We have to make the corrections and take a comprehensive approach."
    Sorry, but I don't see that happening.
    Maybe in fantasyland.
    And not if Congress has anything to do with it.

    They couldn't find their backside if their finger .....well I think that you know the rest.
    http://www.alipac.us Enforce immigration laws!

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