WHYY Newsworks – The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act signed into law by President Reagan is often described as a three-legged stool: a big amnesty for the estimated million or so aliens who were illegally in the U.S.; strengthened border controls to keep more aliens from entering the U.S.; and sanctions on employers to prevent the future employment of illegal aliens.
The idea was that the amnesty would not attract more illegal immigrants to the U.S. because they would be deterred by stronger border controls and employer sanctions. It didn’t work, as evidenced by the more than 11 million illegal aliens believed to be in the U.S. today. [Read More]
