Shortfalls of 1986 Immigration Reform Legislation

Testimony of Muzaffar Chishti, director of MPI’s Office at NYU School of Law, before the House Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security. 

"Madam Chairwoman and Distinguished Members of the Subcommittee: 

My name is Muzaffar Chishti, and I am Director of the Migration Policy Institute’s office at New York University School of Law. Thank you for inviting me to testify before your committee on the “shortfalls of the 1986 immigration reform legislation.” 

As Congress tries to grapple with today’s immigration policy challenges, the lessons learned from the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) provide an extremely useful backdrop. IRCA was an important milestone in our nation’s immigration law and policy. It was the first major attempt by Congress to address the problems of unauthorized migration. Its passage was several years in the making. The recommendations of a high-profile congressionally appointed Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy (SCIRP) provided the broad parameters for the legislation. Though various versions of IRCA were passed by the Senate in 1982, 1983, and 1985, legislation materialized only in 1986. Even in 1986, the legislation only won final approval in the closing days of the congressional session. 

IRCA was clearly a product of a number of political compromises, which diluted its effectiveness. Thus, though IRCA deserves its rightful place as a historic piece of legislation, it suffered from a number of drawbacks in its design and implementation. Many of those shortfalls have contributed to the present dilemma in our immigration policy.[...]"