Immigration Reform -Reagon, Bush 41 and 43

I have not copied the whole articles since it would take up too much room. I HAVE POSTED THE LINKS AFTER THE ARTICLE. It's up to everyone to go to those links  to read the whole article.

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.

What did the 1986 immigration law do? Two big things. First, there was the "amnesty" bit. Any unauthorized immigrants who had already been living in the United States continuously since 1982 became eligible for temporary legal status, after paying a $185 fee and demonstrating "good moral character." After 18 months, they could then become eligible for green cards, provided they learned to speak English.

Second, there was the enforcement bit. The law aimed to secure the U.S.-Mexico border against illegal crossings with new surveillance technology and a bigger staff. The bill also, for the first time in history, imposed penalties on businesses that knowingly hired or employed unauthorized immigrants.

How many immigrants took advantage of amnesty? 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. Others simply didn't know about the amnesty, in part because outreach and publicity was often patchy in many communities.

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 number of unauthorized immigrants in the country rose from roughly 5 million in 1986 to 11.1 million today. Part of that was due to flimsy enforcement measures. But a major conceptual flaw in the bill, says Doris Meissner, was that the authors of the bill simply misjudged the high demand for immigrant labor in the United States.

"Congress didn't foresee at the time that employers would want more immigrants in the years ahead,"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/30/in-1986-congress-tried-to-solve-immigration-why-didnt-it-work/

GEORGE H.W. BUSH’s “IMMIGRATION REFORM ACT OF 1990”
S. 358 provides for a significant increase in the overall number of immigrants permitted to enter the United States each year. The Act maintains our Nation's historic commitment to family reunification by increasing the number of immigrant visas allocated on the basis of family ties.

At the same time, S. 358 dramatically increases the number of immigrants who may be admitted to the United States because of the skills they have and the needs of our economy. This legislation will encourage the immigration of exceptionally talented people, such as scientists, engineers, and educators. Other provisions of S. 358 will promote the initiation of new business in rural areas and the investment of foreign capital in our economy.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=19117

 http://library.uwb.edu/guides/USimmigration/104%20stat%204978.pdf

 An explanation of the “why” and “who, what, where” in layman’s terms of S.358.

https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-history-textbook/the-challenges-of-globalization-and-the-coming-century-after-1989-31/america-s-emerging-culture-230/the-immigration-act-of-1990-1311-6480/

G.W. Bush 2007 Plan…note #1 Securing the borders and #4, no automated path to citizenship and the 1^st bulleted paragraph. As noted in Reagan’s reform, the borders were not secured as required. nor were they secured as would have been required in g.w. bush’s plan.

http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/stateoftheunion/2007/initiatives/immigration.html

Reasons why it failed:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/06/29/us-usa-immigration-idUSN2742643820070629