scholarly journals Employers as Junior Immigration Inspectors: The Impact of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen W. Yale-Loehr
Keyword(s):  
National Origin ◽  
Immigration Reform ◽  
Citizenship Status ◽  
Immigration And Naturalization Service ◽  
International Lawyer ◽  
Immigration Legislation ◽  
Employer Sanctions ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Prospective Employee

21 International Lawyer, (1987)Maurice A. Roberts and Stephen W. Yale-LoehrThe Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), also known as the Simpson-Rodino Act, is the most significant piece of immigration legislation in over thirty years. It radically revamps this already complicated area of law. Its impact on employers is particularly great, and can be seen in three ways. First, fines of up to $10,000 and even jail sentences can be imposed on businesses that knowingly hire undocumented aliens. Second, every employer must now verify and maintain records on the immigration and citizenship status of each prospective employee, even if the applicant is a U.S. citizen. Third, antidiscrimination provisions prohibit all but the smallest employers from discriminating in hiring or firing on the basis of an individual's national origin or citizenship status. Persons who feel they have been discriminated against may initiate an action against the employer.These provisions create major new responsibilities for businesses, and in effect deputize them as junior immigration inspectors. Employers must now provide the sort of enforcement check that the woefully undermanned Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is unable to perform. Lawyers will feel these duties and prohibitions doubly: first in advising their business clients, and second in having to comply themselves, in their own role as employers.This article analyzes the employer sanctions and antidiscrimination provisions of the Simpson-Rodino Act. The article points out ambiguities, gaps, and unanswered questions in the statute and supplementing regulations, and provides practical pointers for attorneys, businesses, and individuals.

Illegal Immigration and Immigration Control

1988 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 101-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry R Chiswick
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Immigration Reform ◽  
Illegal Alien ◽  
Illegal Migration ◽  
Illegal Aliens ◽  
Employer Sanctions ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was passed in the closing days of the 1986 legislative session. The primary purpose of IRCA is to remove illegal aliens from the U.S. labor market. It has two primary policy instruments. One is granting legal status or amnesty for certain illegal aliens, thereby in part “wiping the slate clean.” The other is imposing penalties, referred to as employer sanctions, against employers who “knowingly” hire illegal aliens. Employer sanctions are intended to reduce the demand for illegal alien labor. The first sections of this paper develop an economic analysis of the illegal alien labor market, including the determinants of illegal migration and the impact on the economy. Then, that model is applied to the major provisions of IRCA and used to describe its likely consequences. A concluding section argues that because IRCA does not address the economic realities it is not likely to accomplish its objectives. The partial amnesty and impotent employer sanctions have not solved the illegal alien dilemma.

The Context and Consequences of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank D. Bean ◽  
Thoa V. Khuu
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
Agricultural Workers ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Immigration Reform ◽  
Large Shift ◽  
Welfare Benefits ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Employer Sanctions ◽  
And Control

The United States often views itself as a nation of immigrants. This may in part be why since the early 20th century the country has seldom adopted major changes in its immigration policy. Until 1986, only the 1924 National Origins Quota Act, its dismantlement in the 1952 McCarran-Walter Act, and the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, also known as the Hart-Celler Act, involved far-reaching reforms. Another large shift occurred with the passage of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) and its derivative sequel, the 1990 Immigration Act. No major immigration legislation has yet won congressional approval in the 21st century. IRCA emerged from and followed in considerable measure the recommendations of the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy (1979–1981). That body sought to reconcile two competing political constituencies, one favoring the restriction of immigration, or at least unauthorized immigration, and the other an expansion of family-based and work-related migration. The IRCA legislation contained something for each side: the passage of employer sanctions, or serious penalties on employers for hiring unauthorized workers, for the restriction side; and the provision of a legalization program, which outlined a pathway for certain unauthorized entrants to obtain green cards and eventually citizenship, for the reform side. The complete legislative package also included other provisions: including criteria allowing the admission of agricultural workers, a measure providing financial assistance to states for the costs they would incur from migrants legalizing, a requirement that states develop ways to verify that migrants were eligible for welfare benefits, and a provision providing substantial boosts in funding for border enforcement activities. In the years after the enactment of IRCA, research has revealed that the two major compromise provisions, together with the agricultural workers provision, generated mixed results. Employer sanctions failed to curtail unauthorized migration much, in all likelihood because of minimal funding for enforcement, while legalization and the agricultural measures resulted in widespread enrollment, with almost all of the unauthorized migrants who qualified coming forward to take advantage of the opportunity to become U.S. legalized permanent residents (LPRs). But when the agricultural workers provisions allowing entry of temporary workers are juxtaposed with the relatively unenforceable employer-sanctions provisions, IRCA entailed contradictory elements that created frustration for some observers. In sociocultural, political, and historical terms, scholars and others can interpret IRCA’s legalization as reflecting the inclusive, pluralistic, and expansionist tendencies characteristic of much of 18th-century U.S. immigration. But some of IRCA’s other elements led to contradictory effects, with restriction efforts being offset by the allowances for more temporary workers. This helped to spawn subsequent political pressures in favor of new restrictive or exclusive immigration controls that created serious hazards for immigrants.

The Impact of Immigration Legislation

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Reimers
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Family Members ◽  
The United States ◽  
Japanese Women ◽  
National Origin ◽  
Undocumented Immigration ◽  
Chain Migration ◽  
Immigration Legislation ◽  
Asian Immigration ◽  
The Impact

Racism and economics account for the first laws directed at Chinese and Japanese. Entering as “picture brides,” Japanese women evaded the Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907-1908 between the United States and Japan, but by use of the naturalization qualifications in the 1920s, Congress effectively closed the door to Asian immigration. For southern and eastern Europeans, national-origin quotas of the same decade cut their immigration drastically. After 1945, Congress and U.S. presidents relaxed the tight restrictions, and, in 1965, Congress passed the Hart-Celler Act, which created a new and more liberal system that stressed family unification. Major issues in recent years have concerned terrorism and undocumented immigration. Throughout this period, the results of the laws were often unintended, largely because the flow of immediate family members and chain migration were unseen.

The Politics of Immigration Reform

1984 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 486-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan K. Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Immigration Reform ◽  
Illegal Aliens ◽  
Public Sentiment ◽  
Immigration Legislation ◽  
The Third World ◽  
And Control ◽  
Political Realities ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls ◽  
The U.S

The U.S. is the target for international migration, more now than ever. Population growth and economic stagnation in the Third World are increasing the pressures for outmigration, and current immigration law is wholly incapable of responding to the ever increasing flow of illegal immigrants. Border apprehensions of illegal aliens in the U.S. were up 40 percent during 1983, and total apprehensions reached 1.25 million by the year's end.1 Recent public opinion polls have disclosed that an overwhelming majority of the American public demands immigration reform, and yet we as a nation have been distinctly unwilling or unable to respond to this clear public sentiment. This article will discuss the politics of the issue: the current “Simpson-Mazzoli” Immigration Reform and Control Act, previous immigration legislation, current counterproposals for U.S. immigration policy, and the political realities of immigration reform.

scholarly journals The Political Economy of Immigration Law: Impact of Simpson-Rodino on the United States and Mexico

1988 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 117-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clark W Reynolds ◽  
Robert K McCleery
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigration Law ◽  
Immigration Reform ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Employer Sanctions ◽  
And Control ◽  
Market Interdependence ◽  
Year 2000

About two years ago the United States passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, also called the “Simpson-Rodino” bill of 1986. The Act called for increased enforcement of migration policy, employer sanctions, and amnesty for those who could prove continuous residence since 1982. Despite considerable discussion and debate prior to the act, the legislation was passed without any comprehensive economic analysis of its potential impact on the United States or its main source of undocumented immigration, Mexico. In this paper we shall look at some implications of the recent immigration law for both economies, given their widely differing levels of income and productivity, the challenges each faces to restructure its economy given increased international competitiveness, and the particular problems and opportunities presented by a common border with growing labor market interdependence. By our calculations, the economic opportunity cost of Simpson-Rodino as compared to continuation of the prior status quo will add up to a present value of $110 billion between now and the year 2000. In fact, Simpson-Rodino illustrates the important role that labor mobility may play in the convergence of income and productivity between rich and poor countries. It shows how migration policy may distort or delay that process of convergence, with negative implications for both societies.

Deportation in an Era of Militarized Borders and Mass Incarceration

2020 ◽  
pp. 164-196
Author(s):  
Adam Goodman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
Ronald Reagan ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigration Reform ◽  
Immigration And Naturalization Service ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Elements ◽  
And Control

This chapter discusses the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) that was signed by President Ronald Reagan in the fall of 1986. It explains how IRCA provided legal status to anyone who could prove continuous residency in the United States since January 1, 1982. The chapter discusses the Special Agricultural Workers provision for people who had toiled over perishable crops for at least ninety days between May 1, 1985 and May 1, 1986. It focuses on the Márquez familys' story, which offers insights into some of the core elements of immigration enforcement in the mid- to late 1980s and beyond. It also highlights how the Immigration and Naturalization Service targeted the vast majority of people for deportation because they entered the country without authorization or overstayed a visa.

scholarly journals Current Trends and Patterns of Female Migration: Evidence from Mexico

1993 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 748-771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharine M. Donato
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Family Migration ◽  
Immigration Reform ◽  
Female Migration ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Mexican Society ◽  
Repeat Migration ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

This study uses a new source of data to assess trends and patterns of female migration from Mexico. Data were collected from migrants interviewed in ten Mexican communities from 1987 through 1990, as well as from outmigrants from those communities who were later located in the United States. The first part of the analysis examines changes in migrant behavior throughout the 1980s by estimating trends in the probability of first-time and repeat migration and by assessing the impact of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) on these trends. In general, migration probabilities were lower for women than those reported elsewhere for men, but the evidence suggests that, like men, once women begin migrating, they are virtually assured of migrating on a second trip. Results from the departure models in the second half of the article suggest that recent female migration reflects access to the productive resources in Mexican society and a process of family migration whereby women migrate after their husbands and fathers legalized as part of IRCA.

Suppressed, but Not Forgotten

2011 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beat Meier ◽  
Anja König ◽  
Samuel Parak ◽  
Katharina Henke
Keyword(s):  
Memory Trace ◽  
Thought Suppression ◽  
Test Phase ◽  
Indirect Test ◽  
Final Test ◽  
Test Experiment ◽  
And Control ◽  
Cue Words ◽  
The Impact

This study investigates the impact of thought suppression over a 1-week interval. In two experiments with 80 university students each, we used the think/no-think paradigm in which participants initially learn a list of word pairs (cue-target associations). Then they were presented with some of the cue words again and should either respond with the target word or avoid thinking about it. In the final test phase, their memory for the initially learned cue-target pairs was tested. In Experiment 1, type of memory test was manipulated (i.e., direct vs. indirect). In Experiment 2, type of no-think instructions was manipulated (i.e., suppress vs. substitute). Overall, our results showed poorer memory for no-think and control items compared to think items across all experiments and conditions. Critically, however, more no-think than control items were remembered after the 1-week interval in the direct, but not in the indirect test (Experiment 1) and with thought suppression, but not thought substitution instructions (Experiment 2). We suggest that during thought suppression a brief reactivation of the learned association may lead to reconsolidation of the memory trace and hence to better retrieval of suppressed than control items in the long term.

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