Lessons From The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
While the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act was a landmark effort to achieve comprehensive immigration reform, its key design and implementation failures offer lasting lessons.
The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was the first legislative attempt to comprehensively address the issue of unauthorized immigration. The law included sanctions against employers for the hiring of unauthorized immigrants, more robust border enforcement, and an expansive legalization program that was unprecedented.
IRCA resulted from a number of political compromises, and balanced the need for stronger immigration enforcement with legalization of a large portion of the unauthorized population. Although the concepts behind the legislation were sound, there were problems with its design and implementation in each of its major goals: employer accountability, broader enforcement that prevented illegal entries, and legalization of a large population of unauthorized migrants.
While the context of American immigration policymaking has changed substantially since 1986, the incentives for immigration to the United States remain the same. Thus, many lessons from IRCA remain powerful in today’s environment.
About the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future
This high-level, bipartisan task force developed a comprehensive post-9/11 blueprint to redesign the U.S. immigration system with flexibility, smart enforcement, and a robust integration policy.
About the U.S. Immigration Policy Program
The U.S. Immigration Policy Program provides analysis of U.S. immigration pathways, the impacts of enforcement and other policies, and the characteristics of immigrant populations.
