Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

The Historic Need for Workers

Historically, the United States has looked to other countries to provide labor for U.S. industries. In 1864, when the first comprehensive federal immigration bill was passed, its intent was to encourage immigration and provide workers to meet production needs during the Civil War. At the time, the United States was experiencing an inflow of about 1 million immigrants annually, and this was seen as positive and beneficial for the U.S. economy.

Because of the close proximity to their homeland, Mexicans were seen as a more desirable source of labor than Europeans because it was felt that Mexicans could easily return home when the need for labor ceased. Through the mid-1900s, Mexicans were encouraged to migrate to the United States and were even excluded from required literacy exams and quota restrictions to gain entrance to the United States. In 1942, the United States and Mexico launched the Bracero Program, which legally brought thousands of Mexican laborers to the United States to work. Though the program claims responsibility for bringing more than 5 million Mexican workers to the United States during the 24 years the program was in existence, it acted as a catalyst for many more undocumented immigrants to cross the border illegally.

The Bracero Program was officially stopped in 1964, but ending the program did not diminish the labor needs, so many of the Mexican laborers stayed and continued to work in the United States, albeit illegally. By the 1970s, nativist sentiments proliferated, and some blamed immigrants for everything that was wrong with society. In this environment, work began on immigration legislation that would eventually become the Immigration and Reform Control Act. Although the bill is written to address immigrants in [Page 703]general, the focus is on undocumented Mexican immigrants, as evidenced by the attention to the U.S.-Mexico border and provisions for agricultural workers, who were predominantly Mexican laborers. After many attempts and variations of bills to address immigration, amnesty, and employer sanctions for more than 10 years, the House and Senate finally compromised on a bill. The Immigration Reform and Control Act had several monikers during its lengthy creation process, including the Simpson-Mazzoli Act and the Simpson-Rodino Act.

Figure 1 Illegal immigrants. Mexican nationals apprehended while illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexican border wait in a holding area at the Brownfield Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) processing center in Otay Mesa, California, on March 6, 2006. Mexican nationals caught illegally crossing the border are sent back to Mexico and classified as “voluntarily returned” without any charges filed if there are no outstanding criminal cases against them on record. The U.S. government estimates that 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants reside in the United States as of 2007.

Source: Getty Images.

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