Amnesty

An amnesty is an official act of forgiveness, or pardon, extended by the U.S. government for a past offense. Although various amnesties have been [Page 227]issued by the government throughout the nation's history, such as President Jimmy Carter's 1977 unconditional pardoning of draftees who failed to comply with their military service obligations during the Vietnam War, the concept of amnesty in recent years has been most associated with illegal immigration. A controversial topic, some policymakers and media pundits have suggested amnesty as a possible solution to address the millions of undocumented aliens living and working in the United States, by extending legalized status to them. Such an idea generates intense opposition from critics of amnesty, who often counter that such a plan would serve as a reward, rather than punishment, for persons who entered the United States in violation of its immigration laws. Critics also claim that conferring amnesty to those living in the country illegally would encourage additional illegal aliens to settle in the United States by instilling in them the idea that they, too, might one day be beneficiaries of an amnesty. Supporters of legalization counter that under the status quo, several million undocumented aliens continue to live and work in the United States, which in and of itself represents a quasi-form of amnesty, even though the undocumented population is denied many rights and protections guaranteed to U.S. citizens and legal permanent resident aliens.

An estimated 11.5 million illegal aliens lived in the United States in 2011. However, more than 60 percent of this total had been residing in the nation since before 2000, thus indicating that many undocumented immigrants have established important social, cultural, employment, and familial connections in the United States. Although illegal immigrants come from virtually every nation of the world, Mexican nationals comprise the majority of undocumented aliens in the United States. Approximately 58 percent of the country's total undocumented population is from Mexico. Demographers and immigration scholars claim that net immigration from Mexico has stagnated, or possibly even declined, since 2010, as a result of worsening economic conditions in the United States that have impeded opportunities for undocumented aliens to find employment.

Nevertheless, the number of illegal aliens living in the United States increased 27 percent between 2000 and 2009, causing controversy and leading to concern and even anger in many local communities throughout the nation in response to mounting fears regarding overcrowding, unemployment, crime, use of public services among the undocumented, shifting demographics, and the social, cultural, and linguistic impacts of migration on local towns and cities. As a result, immigration policy became a contentious political issue in the first decade of the 21st century, and President George W. Bush was forced to grapple with immigration more so than other presidents in recent decades. Growing opposition to illegal immigration led several states and local municipalities to enact their own versions of immigration reform over the past 20 years, although most of these ordinances were subsequently struck down as unconstitutional in federal courts. Amid this tense political climate, elected officials in both the Republican and Democratic parties sought to find a plausible solution to the nation's immigration policy dilemmas.

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