The Best Immigration Policy or the Worst
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) is viewed as one of the most important policy implementations in U.S. immigration history. As drafted, IRCA proposed to be a policy to control and deter all illegal immigration into the U.S., but the policy was truly directed at stopping the flow of Mexican immigrants that continues to be the largest immigration flow in the world. Daniel Tichenor writes in Dividing Lines that, “Originally designed as a restrictive enforcement measure, IRCA proved to be surprisingly expansive in both design and effect.” By identifying the unintended consequences of the law, this paper explores why the policy failed. Ultimately, this paper shows that IRCA expanded immigration by creating a greater need for it as well as by unintentionally breaking the traditional patterns of temporal and seasonal migration.
The Objectives of IRCA
The drafters of IRCA developed three objectives: to regularize the status of millions of undocumented migrants, to deter immigration through tougher enforcement, and to prevent the need for immigration. Each objective strived to ultimately solve the “immigration problem” by greatly decreasing the number of migrants coming to the U.S; however, each in fact increased immigration.
The first objective of IRCA sought to regularize the status of millions of undocumented migrants by legalizing those who entered before January 1982, as well as those that performed temporary services or labor, mainly seasonal agricultural workers. This appears contrary to IRCA’s purpose of limiting immigration into the U.S.; however, legislators saw this first objective as necessary. First, amnesty dealt with the problem of the presence of ...
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Julie A. Phillips & Douglas S. Massey, The New Labor Market: Immigrants and Wages After IRCA, 36 Demography, no. 2, 1999 at 224.
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America is undergoing significant social change. While in 1960, white people made up 85 percent of the population, in the latest census it was projected that by 2043, the United States would “be the first post-industrial society in the world where minorities will be the majority” (Deasy, 2012). The 1965 Immigration Act is said to have opened the door to waves of new immigration from Mexico, Latin America and Asia, and the cumulative social impacts have been far reaching. The purpose of this annotated bibliography is to critically review a handful of research papers that explore some of the impacts that immigration has had on the United States, with a particular focus on the research methodologies adopted. It finds that while many papers focus on the use of quantitative research methodologies to measure
Foreign policy and Immigration since 1945”. Threatened Peoples, Threatened Borders: World Migration Policy. Eds. Michael Teitelbaum and Myron Weiner. New York: Columbia University, 1995. p.123-124.
“Immigration Abuses,” Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles), Jul 22, 1931, http:www.proquest.com, (Accessed December 10, 2013).
The United States was formed by the immigration of many people from all over the world. Americans take pride in knowing that we are a people of vast ethnic backgrounds and culture. However, at the present time, the flow of illegal immigration, as well as a large influx of other legal immigrants is placing a strain on our land of "huddled masses." Legal immigration to the United States can easily be handled and is welcomed by most Americans. However, the flow of illegal immigrants, especially from Mexico, must be stemmed, due to the strain it is placing on the government, (at the local, state and federal level), as well as the general population. Illegal immigrants are costing the United States over 24 billion dollars a year in taxpayers money (National Review 12.13.93). Something must be done to reduce the flow of illegal immigration into the United States. The focus of this paper will be the problems caused by and possible solutions to the problem of illegal immigration.
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), had several contributions to solve the problem of immigration in United States, beside the substantial contributions to legalize over 3 million foreign nationals. First, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), strongly supported a comprehensive immigration legislation that benefited a group of illegal immigrants, who had been continuously in United States over four year period under a special agricultural workers program, a group of Cubans national who fled their country after the Cuban revolution of 1959. Also, the foreign immigrants that had arrived prior to January 1, 1972, and the group of Haitians that for diverse situations arrived to the United State shores. Critics of IRCA sustain that even with this considerable legalization of illegal alien, the program failed to deter the illegal immigration into the country that instead of decreased, the foreign nationals living illegally in America increased over 4 million in the period of 1986 to 1990 In which the reform of the U.S. legal immigration system under IRCA demonstrated that immigration...
Pia M. Orrenius and Madeline Zavodny. “Does Immigration Affect Wages? A Look at Occupational-Level Evidence.” Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Research Department. Working Paper 0302. August 2003. 21. Print.
Fairchild H. P., 1930, ‘Immigration and the population problem’ , Annals of the American academy of Political and Social Science, New York University
Jacoby, Tamar. “Does the U.S. Need Illegal Immigrants?.” New York Times Upfront 144.11 (2012): 22. Education Source. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Crean, Tom, and Will Soto. "Immigration and the Class Struggle in the US." Socialist Alternative. Committee for a Workers' International, 1 Apr. 2007. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
For over ten years, efforts to make changes to the United States immigration system have been put aside due to wars, attacks within our homeland and even worldwide financial crisis but it seems as though this being brought up more and more often. The history of the US immigration policy was more concerned with immigration enforcement over immigration reform. It was not until a few years ago that the US citizens voted they were tired of enforcement-only immigration policies and the pain they caused on immigrant families. So most feel now is the time to draw up new immigration laws that reflect American values and beliefs, and it ne...
America is a nation consisting of many immigrants: it has its gates opened to the world. These immigrants transition smoothly and slowly from settlement, to assimilation then citizenship. These immigrants are first admitted lawfully as permanent residents before they naturalize to become full citizens. In her book “Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America”, the historian Mae Ngai draws our attention to the history of immigration and citizenship in America. Her book examines an understudied period of immigration regulation between 1924 and 1965.
Kessner, Thomas and Betty Boyd Caroli, “Today’s Immigrants, Their Stories.” Kiniry and Rose 343-346. Print.
Illegal immigration was an issue in the past and is a pressing problem in the present. The U.S. Government has been trying to find a resolution to this issue for years. The United States approved the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986, which allowed the American Government to punish American companies that consciously employed illegal immigrants (Nadadur 1037-1052). The United States’ Government Immigration Reform and Control Act has been unsuccessful in controlling illegal immigration. It is estimated that illegal immigration into the U.S. has a yearly interval of three hundred fifty thousand people (Rousmaniere 24-25). It is apparent that the 1986 act was not able to keep a handle on illegal immigration. Illegal immigration continues due to the fact that immigrants only take the jobs available to them, which in turn helps support the United States’ economy, so measures should not be taken to halt immigration.
Sherbondy, Donald J. 1930. “Effect of Unemployment Upon Immigration into the U.S.” Cumulative Digest of International Law and Relations 12:1-2.
Gerking, Shelby, and John H Mutti. Costs And Benefits of Illegal Immigration: Key Issues For Government Policy. 61.1 (June 1980): 71-85. Print.