The immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 i.e., IRCA has amended the sections of Immigration and Nationalization Act i.e., INA. The IRCA support the legalization of illegal immigrants or aliens who meet specific requirements (Susan, 1987). This reform has however responded to the demand of the immigrationists as well as restrictionists. The restrictionists and immigrationists has demanded control on the illegal immigrants coming to United States. They has however argue that the immigration is increasing the population of the country and are contributing to congestion and environmental problems. They are depressing the wages as well as working conditions in the U.S. labor market and the American native labor have to compete with them. The illegal immigrants are willing to provide their services at the lower wages that is slowing the modernization trend and also reducing the competitiveness of the American economy.
They have also argued that a large number of the Asian and Hispanics immigrants are entering in the country and their integration and accommodation pattern is unpredictable, there are chances that this paves the way to the ethnic and racial conflicts in the American society. The restrictionists also argued that the immigrants should be selected on special criteria so that the country attract as well as accept only the winners. Some restrictionists are of the view that the United States does not require any immigrants. The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act has responded to all these competing and contrasting interests with compromise i.e., amnesty for undocumented, border restrictions and enforcement in order to to prevent unauthorized and illegal entry and employer approvals and sanctions for preventing the employment opportunities of illegal migrants (Nichols, 1987).
The economists associated with IRCA have responded to the immigrationists and restrictionists that immigrants cannot be considered as burden on the economy. He describes that considering the fact that the comensation expense of unemployment and schooling cost the immigrants and the native born resident is the same. Education is a continuing expense but it is a necessity if the country i.e., United States have to remain competitive worldwide. Furthermore, the restrictions imposed by 1986 reform remain unsuccessful. This is due to the fact that the law meant for putting a stop on the illegal immigrants arriving in the United States, but exactly opposite actually happened. The number of the unauthorized migrants climbed to about 5 million in 1986 and the latest figure of illegal immigrants is 11.1 million (Plumer, 2013).
The opponents have however also argued that the amnesty that was introduced by the bill of 1986 in which it was emphasized that the the immigrants residing in United States since 1982 would be awarded legal status on temporary basis is also a failure as the work was not performed effectively according to the law. IRCA also contained enforcement bit, in which it was explained that penalties would be imposed on the businesses or companies that knowingly employed/hired unauthorized immigrants (White, Bean & Espenshade, 1990). But, the bitter fact is that no there has been no implementation of the aforementioned principles. Illegal immigrants were hired by the companies and are still being hired and also green cards have been issued to several without taking into considerations the rules and regulations of the immigration policy. All this pave the way to the failure of the immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
References
Susman, Barbara A. (1987). The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 ("IRCA"): Impact Upon Employer/Employee Fourth Amendment Protections Against Unreasonable Search and Seizure. Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal, 5(1), 1-44
Plumer, Brad. (2013). Congress tried to fix immigration back in 1986. Why did it fail? The Washington Post. Retrieved from:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/30/in-1986-congress-tried-to-solve-immigration-why-didnt-it-work/
White, Michael J., Bean, Frank D., & Espenshade, Thomas J. (1990). The U.S. 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act and undocumented migration to the United States. Population Research and Policy Review, 9 (2), 93-116
Nichols, Pamela D. (1987). The United States Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986: A Critical Perspective. Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business, 8, 503-524
