IRCA's 30th Anniversary: What Lawmakers Were Saying When They Finally Reached Agreement
By Jerry Kammer, October 17, 2016
On October 15, 1986, the New York Times announced that negotiators for the House and Senate had agreed on "a landmark immigration bill that would prohibit the hiring of illegal aliens and offer legal status to several million illegal aliens already in the United States."
As we now know, nearly three million people would receive legal status, aka amnesty, as a result of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. But the effort to stop future illegal immigration would badly fail. Instead of containing the influx, IRCA — also known as the Simpson-Mazzoli bill for its principal sponsors in the Senate and House — would actually stimulate it. Despite its admirable intentions, it has left a legacy of bitter disagreement on how to deal with an "undocumented" population that now exceeds 11 million.
Given that enormous gap between congressional intention and legislative effect, it is interesting to look back at what lawmakers were saying 30 years ago, as they put the bill on course to be signed by President Reagan. Here are some samples.
http://cis.org/kammer/ircas-30th-anniversary-what-lawmakers-were-saying-when-they-finally-reached-agreement
