5 Comments

  1. [Some things never change. The punch line is at the end]
    .

    Congress Tried To Fix Immigration Back in 1986. Why Did It Fail?

    By Brad Plumer / The Washington Post / January 30, 2013

    “The last time Congress enacted sweeping immigration reform was back in 1986. That bill, signed by Ronald Reagan, looked a lot like the proposals being put forward today. There was a path to citizenship for existing illegal immigrants, coupled with tighter border enforcement.

    “There was just one problem — the 1986 reform didn’t work. The law was supposed to put a stop to illegal immigration into the United States once and for all. Instead, the exact opposite happened. The number of unauthorized immigrants living in the country soared, from an estimated 5 million in 1986 to 11.1 million today.

    “…The law awarded green cards to about 2.7 million immigrants, all told — including about 1 million farm workers. It was the largest legalization program in U.S. history.

    “But, importantly, that still left at least 2 million unauthorized immigrants untouched. Many of those people didn’t qualify for legal status under the law because they had arrived in the United States after 1982. …

    “And there was no real plan for this large pool of remaining immigrants. “Everyone assumed they would just leave, that the new employer restrictions would push them out,” says Doris Meissner of the Migration Policy Institute. As it turns out, that didn’t happen.

    “…industries such as agriculture, construction and landscaping often skirted the paperwork rules by relying on contractors and subcontractors.

    “Why were the border restrictions ineffective? Poor funding, for one. Congress didn’t provide enough money to ramp up Border Patrol hiring until the mid-1990s

    “…The hope is that legislators have learned from their past mistakes. …”

  2. Can you imagine? Nothing, on the right has changed. Not one bit. Not in the slightest. I know what the problem is…we just haven’t spent a sufficient amount of money on these worthy government projects. We need to raise taxes…again.

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