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Company bosses who employ illegal migrants face tougher penalties under plans by Suella Braverman to deter Channel crossings.

The Home Secretary has been stung by French claims that migrants are crossing the Channel because they see Britain as a soft touch where it is easy for illegal migrants to get work in the black economy. Studies have suggested there are as many as 1.2 million unauthorised immigrants in the UK.

She is considering whether tougher fines and longer jail sentences are needed to penalise employers and illegal workers. Company bosses who take on illegal migrants can be jailed for up to five years and pay an unlimited fine under current laws.

She also wants stronger enforcement of the current regulation, after she discovered the number fines being issued for breaches have slumped - just as the number of illegal migrants crossing the Channel has hit a record high of 33,000 so far this year.

Internal data show the number of fines fell from 837 - worth 13.8 million in the first three months of 2016 - to just 152, worth 2.5 million, in the first quarter of this year.

Ms Braverman signalled her intent at this weeks Tory conference, when she pledged to redouble our efforts to go after rule-breaking employers and stamp out illegal working practices.

It is widely believed in France that the reason people come to the UK is that it is easy to work illegally, said a source.

It is not clear whether we are any better or worse than France, but that is their belief.

It is possibly the belief of a lot of illegal migrants. It is very difficult to judge what makes up the pull factors.

The tougher rules come alongside plans for new legislation, due after Christmas, that will bar anyone who arrives in the UK illegally from the right to claim citizenship or to settle in the UK.

The new law will also aim to sweep away obstacles to sending illegal migrants to Rwanda. This will include measures, previously set out in the abandoned Bill of Rights, to stop the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg from blocking UK immigration measures.

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Stiff penalties for firms that employ illegal migrants as UK seeks to lose 'soft touch' reputation - The Telegraph

Jeff Sessions, former Alabama senator and attorney general under President Donald Trump, said the current border crisis is allowing more criminals to enter the United States.

You know, in poor countries, they dont keep people in jail for 30, 40 years. Theyre glad to get rid of you. So if youre a child molesterer and the sheriff and the police chief in Honduras knows you, what are you going to do? You got a cousin in Los Angeles, you just go across the border, Sessions said in a Sept. 29 podcast with Mark Krikorian, director of the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies.

So I think we are picking up a larger number of criminals than we used to in the immigration system.

Sessions became a polarized figure among conservatives soon after he became attorney general as he recused himself from the Department of Justices Russia collusion investigation.

At the border, Sessions was instrumental in the zero tolerance policy that was enforced for about two months beginning in April 2018. The policy matched immigration law that says if individuals cross the border illegally, they must be detained.

It became known as the family separation policy as several hundred parents were temporarily separated from their children as all adults were detained and prosecuted for entering illegally.

The motivation behind the policy was to halt the catch-and-release scenario that had attracted thousands of illegal immigrants who knew theyd be set free inside the United States, despite the vast majority not being eligible for asylum.

The administration stopped the zero tolerance program on June 20 and later enacted the Remain in Mexico program, which had the effect of dramatically reducing illegal entries. Instead of being released into the United States with a court date years down the road, the program forced illegal border crossers to wait in Mexico until their case had been adjudicated by an immigration judge.

Its difficult to overstate how tough it was for the Trump administration to make progress, Sessions said.

Lawsuits were filed in courts, as Attorney General and we dealt with them. And we defended the presidents actions. And we began to win cases and change policies. And the success was real. And numbers fell. And it was thrown away by [the Biden] administration. What they did exceeds anything imaginable.

President Joe Biden issued a handful of executive orders within hours of taking office on Jan. 20, 2021.

On day one, the administration signed executive orders and issued memos to temporarily suspend deportations of illegal aliens, reverse Trumps ban on travel from terror-prone countries, halt border wall construction, stop adding people to the Remain in Mexico program, preserve and fortify the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and release a sweeping immigration package to Congress that includes amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants.

Since then, record numbers of illegal aliens from more than 160 countries have crossed the U.S.Mexico border, including more than 2 million in the past year.

Border Patrol agents have reported an additional at least 599,000 illegal aliens to have evaded capture over the past yearalmost 50,000 per month, according to numbers obtained by Fox News.

The ones who evade capture, known as gotaways, are typically assumed to be evading law enforcement because they are either criminals, previously deported, or they know they wont gain legal entry.

During fiscal year 2022, Border Patrol agents arrested 78 illegal aliens along the southern border who are on the U.S. governments terrorist watchlistcompared to three during fiscal year 2020, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Additionally, Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 11,000 convicted criminals at the border and a further 836 with warrants for arrest in fiscal year 2022, with one month of data missing. An additional 697 gang members have been arrested at the border.

I have a sense that the whole world is now just learning that its not just Mexicans and Central Americans that can come illegallythey can come here illegally too, Sessions said.

Krikorian said he anticipates more illegal aliens coming in from African nations, the Middle East, and China and India.

Once the door is open, theyll rush through it hoping they get through before we wake up and close it again, he said.

Sessions said Republican lawmakers in Washington need to apply more pressure to secure the border.

What I found was, and said many times, they will vote for most any bill on immigration that sounds good, but if it really works, it never passed, Sessions said.

During Trumps first two years, Republicans controlled both the House and Senate, but failed to pass any legislation that closed immigration law loopholes that were driving most of the illegal entries.

That we have to open our system up to the world, for anybody who wants to come is a colossal disaster. It can never be a legitimate policy of a great nation, Sessions said.

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Former AG Jeff Sessions: 'A Larger Number of Criminals' Are Crossing the Border - The Epoch Times

Illegal immigration to Malaysia is the cross-border movement of people to Malaysia under conditions where official authorisation is lacking, breached, expired, fraudulent, or irregular. The cross-border movement of workers has become well-established in Southeast Asia, with Malaysia a major labour-receiving country and Indonesia and the Philippines the region's main labour-sending states. Managing cross-border migration (labour, refugee and human trafficking) has become an issue of increasing concern in Malaysia and its international relations.

The term "illegal", when applied to "migration" and "migrant", has been replaced in recent years by "irregular" and "undocumented"[1] on the grounds that "illegal" is inaccurate, degrading, and prejudicial.[2][3] Key institutions have adopted the new terms: the UN General Assembly (1975), the International Labour Organization (2004), the European Parliament (2009), and the Associated Press (2013)[2] and other US news agencies.[3]

The new terms are rarely used in official and academic discourse in Malaysia, where the popular term is "illegal immigrant".[4] The term "illegals", elsewhere perceived as outdated and pejorative,[5] is regularly used in Malaysian media.[6]

The terminology is also obscure because Malaysian law (Immigration Act 1959/63) does not distinguish between undocumented economic migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and trafficked people; all are designated as illegal immigrants.[7] The term "illegal immigrant" designates a variety of groups who are all liable to arrest, detention and deportation for immigration offences:[4][7][8]

Patterns of migration and the roles and responses of governments in the region concerning migration are rooted in the region's history. Present-day Malaysia has been a migration crossroads, where borders were lacking or permeable.

Malaysia's first generations of migrants were indigenous peoples, the Orang Asli, believed to have been part of the first wave of migration from Africa about 50,000 years ago or more-recent Asian evolution.[9][10]The Malay Peninsula developed from port towns which thrived on trade routes from China to India[10] and hosted the next migrants as merchants settled in the ports, some assimilating into the local communities.[11] By the fifth century AD, networks of these towns had evolved into organised political spheres of influence defined by their centre rather than their borders. At the periphery, control is less certain. Borders may be permeable and control sometimes overlaps; areas might be under several powers, or none.[12]

During the second-century Langkasuka kingdoms, the eighth-century Srivijaya empire and the 15th-century Malacca Sultanate, the centre of power shifted between Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. In addition to their link by political rule, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula were also linked by intermarriage between the Sumatran and Peninsular ruling elite (which led to the migration of their followers).

Other significant early migrants are those now classified as Melayu Anak Dagang (non-Malays who migrated to the region and later assimilated into Malay culture, distinct from Melayu Anak Jati: ethnic Malays who are native to the region,[13] including the Minangkabau people from Sumatra and the Bugis people from Sulawesi, Indonesia.[14] Based on Malaysia's long history as a society of migrants, researchers at University Sains Malaysia say: "It is, however, pertinent to put the record straight that migration of people to the artificially created enclave known as Malaysia today dated back to centuries. Malaysia like many ex-colonies is artificial ..."[citation needed]

Researcher Anthony Reid draws another conclusion from this history that Malaysia, like the US and Australia, is best viewed as an immigrant society:[14]

In Malaysia, of course, official ideology requires that 62 percent of the population be regarded as "sons of the soil", defined in racial terms rather than place of birth. But there is also an older pre-nationalist tradition there of understanding Malaya as an immigrant society, and a tendency as in other immigrant societies for the relatively recent migrants in all communities to provide much of the innovative energy and leadership ...

Malaysia, like most of its Southeast Asian neighbours, did not sign the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and maintains that newly-arrived aliens are illegal immigrants rather than refugees.[15] However, since the early 1970s it has allowed Muslims involved in a conflict in their own country (especially the Moro people of the southern Philippines) to seek refuge in Malaysia.[16] In 1975, Malaysia accepted thousands of Cambodian Muslims who had fled the Pol Pot regime. During the Indochina refugee crisis, Malaysia allowed a small number of Cambodian Muslims to immigrate (assisted by the Malaysian Muslim Welfare Organisation, funded by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Malaysian government.[16] In 1980, Malaysia began admitting Rohingya and Acehnese Muslims who were fleeing the persecution in Myanmar and insurgency in Indonesia.[16]

Malaysian Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said in 2015 that his ministry has told the UNHCR several times that "Malaysia is not a signatory to its convention on refugees", and the United Nations should send refugees to another Third-World nation. Jaafar also said that refugees and migrant workers needed to observe Malaysian law in the country.[17] According to Deputy Foreign Minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican,

Although Malaysia doesn't want to become part of the convention, our country will continue to give any assistance needed by the refugees based on humanitarian grounds. Our country only recognised/allowed those (refugees) who registered with UNHCR to seek temporarily shelter in this country before they been moved to another third world countries or return to their place of origin.[18]

According to a National Registration Department (NRD) official, 60,000 illegal immigrants in the east Malaysian state of Sabah received Malaysian identity cards (MyKads);[19] such allegations are known as Project IC. This was done through an ethnic connection to people in certain Malaysian occupations (such as the NRD, politics or security forces). A syndicate from Pakistan has mainly Pakistani clients, and syndicates from Myanmar and Indonesia have their own clients.[20] Filipinos with identity documents brought family members to Sabah.[21][20] An officer of the Eastern Sabah Security Command said that the corruption of local authorities and the issuance of fraudulent identity cards played an important role in the increase of crime in Sabah.[22] Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said that illegal immigrants long resident in Malaysia should not be barred from citizenship.[23][24]

According to researchers Myfel Joseph Paluga and Andrea Malaya Ragragio of the University of the Philippines Mindanao, the flood of migrants from Mindanao to Sabah was partly encouraged by Sabah politicians who "wanted to be the Sultan of Sulu" after the fall of the United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) and Sabah People's United Front (BERJAYA) administrations.[25] Following the rampant Islamisation and Muslims migration led by USNO chief Mustapha Harun, the Muslim population in Sabah drastically increased with negative perception from the native indigenous towards the Islamic religion also increased as it have been endangering the local culture and practice of the indigenous.[26] As part of the Islamisation of Sabah state, Malaysia affords shelter around Sabah to Filipino Muslims escaping from the conflicts between Philippine government and their fellow separatists in their homeland of Mindanao.[16][23][24][27][28][29][30] The Eastern Sabah Security Command Security Coordinating Intelligence Officer said that although the foreigners remained in Sabah, their loyalty to their homeland (Mindanao and Sulu Archipelago) in the Philippines never swayed and they brought drugs, smuggling and piracy. The Filipinos from this region are reportedly vengeful and ill-tempered and disputes often result in shooting and bloody feuds ("a culture they call Rido").[22]

During the influx of the Vietnamese boat people, the Malaysian government felt that they would threaten its national security and racial balance; most refugees resemble Malaysian Chinese, resulting in quick repatriation.[31] The Malaysian government blamed the United States, accusing it of causing the Vietnam War and a massive influx of refugees to Vietnam's neighbours.[31] Some Sabah Muslim MPs and State Assembly members, such as Rosnah Shirlin and Abdul Rahim Ismail, were aware of the Filipino Muslim problem. According to Shirlin,

The refugee camp established in my district has been creating a lot of problems for the residents here. The camp has become a drugs den and the source of many other criminal activities. Over the years, many robberies had taken place in nearby villages and the culprits are mostly from the camp. Supposedly, the improved situation in the Philippines today has brought into question whether these Filipinos could still be regarded as refugees. The camp was set up on a 40-acre plot of land near Kampung Laut in the early 1980s by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). But the UNHCR had long ago stopped providing funds to the camp and as a result, many of these foreigners had been working outside the camp. The refugees had even dared to expand the camp area, encroaching on nearby village land and today, the camp has become the biggest syabu distribution den in my district.[32]

Ismail agreed:

For decades, my village and several villages in my constituency was a beautifully rustic villages of traditional fishermen, who went about their daily lives with no cause for worry except for the latest catch of the day. Sabah's long-standing issues with illegal immigration are starting to irk local communities, who live fearing for their safety and culture. The ambience of the village has changed. The most obvious change now is the security fears in the village where I was born and grew up in. There is a colony of some 50 or so illegal immigrants who are living on a private piece of land that was supposedly rented out to them. The illegal immigrants roam around the village, and the town area, the pump boats they use are becoming a common sight here. I've brought it up to the authorities before; the police, immigration and district office. I appreciate some steps being taken, but it is not enough to give confidence to the local residents. If left unattended, Sabah will be susceptible to a lot of social ills illegal drug dealing and consumption, theft and robbery and a "pump boat culture". The authorities also need to ensure that Sabahan land owners do not rent out their land randomly to anybody and contravening the Sabah Land Ordinance.[33][34]

Abdul Rahim Ismail, Sabah State Legislative Assembly Members for Pantai Manis in Papar

The Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants in Sabah investigated the granting of citizenship to illegal immigrants. Former National Registration Director Mohd Nasir Sugip said that he was part of a secret operation, Ops Durian Buruk (Operation Rotten Durian),[35] during the early 1990s in which the Election Commission of Malaysia and former Deputy Home Minister Megat Junid Megat Ayub instructed his department to issue national identity cards to foreigners to change Sabah's voting demographics.[36] The names of 16,000 illegal immigrants were changed by the instruction of the Sabah Election Commission.[37] Former Sabah NRD director Ramli Kamarudin said that former Sabah Chief Minister Osu Sukam was present when Megat Junid gave instructions to carry out the project IC exercise.[38]

A Filipino man said that he received an identity card without applying for it,[39] and Indian and Pakistani immigrants said that they received identity cards less than 10 years after they arrived in Sabah during the 1980s.[40] The irregularities reportedly angered Sabahan natives, including those in neighbouring Sarawak.[41] The Christian Dayak people are stateless, without birth certificates, while the newly-arrived illegal immigrants can obtain Malaysian identity cards in a short time.[42] The Malaysian government reportedly favours Muslim asylum-seekers.[43]

In 2008, the Sabah deputy chief minister said that some illegal immigrants attempted to become Malaysian security-force members with fake identity cards.[44] A Sulu militant in Sabah was a Malaysian police corporal with family in the southern Philippines who was believed to have aided militants in illegally entering and leaving the state.[45] A security guard from Tawau in Sabah killed a bank officer in Subang Jaya, Selangor during a robbery. The security guard had a fake identity card,[46] and was later identified as an Indonesian from Sulawesi.[47] Lim Kit Siang asked how the security guard obtained a MyKad, enabling him to work at the bank:

How can this person get a MyKad, and even if the MyKad is fake, how can he be allowed to open up a bank account, receive monthly salary and in fact be given a firearm licence by the Home Ministry? Did this person also vote in the 13th General Election? Is it because the owner of the security firm is a crony of the ruling party? How many foreigners have enjoyed these privileges?[48]

In addition to Sabah, the border in the Straits of Malacca between Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra enabled Indonesian immigrants to illegally enter the country; in 2014, an overloaded migrant boat sank.[49]

Malaysia, Thailand and Venezuela were listed in the third and lowest tier of the US Department of State's 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report. The country has made little progress to combat the exploitation of foreign migrant workers subjected to forced labour and those recruited under false pretenses and coerced into sex work.[50] Rohingya refugees, seeking a better life in Malaysia, are frequently victimised by human traffickers who confine, beat and starve them and demand ransoms from their families.[51] Many Filipinas, promised good jobs in other countries by brokers in the Philippines, have been trafficked to Malaysia and are vulnerable to detention by Malaysian authorities for illegal entry.[52] Vietnamese and Chinese traffickers have shifted their prostitution rings to Malaysia, making Vietnamese women the largest number of foreign prostitutes in the country[53] (followed by Cambodian women).[54][failed verification] Traffickers usually offer victims good-paying jobs in Malaysia; when they meet a trafficker (posing as a manager), they are imprisoned, raped and forced into sex work.[55][56] Chinese traffickers kidnapped children, maimed them and used them to beg in the streets of Kuala Lumpur.[57][58]

Malaysia is an electrical-parts manufacturing centre, and large companies such as Panasonic and Samsung (as well as the McDonald's fast-food chain) were accused of poor treatment of workers.[59][60] Cambodian housemaids have reportedly been poorly treated,[61][62] and a Cambodian maid detained in a Malaysian immigration centre said that she saw three Cambodian and Vietnamese women die after severe abuse; Thai, Indonesian and Laotian prisoners were also reportedly abused.[63] This however refuted by Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed who said the matter has been investigated and no deaths are actually occurred.[64] Nevertheless, a Malaysian couple were sentenced to death for starving their Cambodian maid to death.[65][66]

Child-selling is ongoing, with babies brought from countries such as Thailand and Cambodia. Some are bought by infertile couples, but the less fortunate are sold to traffickers and forced to become sex slaves or beggars.[67] Prostitution rings also offer babies from their foreign sex workers who become pregnant; some sex workers contact couples to offer their babies, since Malaysian law forbids migrant workers from having children in the country.[68]

In 1986, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) attempted to integrate Filipino refugees in Sabah with local communities if it could not repatriate them to the Philippines; however, this was opposed by the Sabah state government and local residents.[69][70] The UNHCR tried a similar solution in 2015, issuing refugee cards in West Malaysia without government approval.[71]

The Immigration Department of Malaysia has promised that Malaysia will be free from illegal immigrants in 2020.[72]

In 2011, Malaysia introduced Program 6P to reduce the number of illegal immigrants. The 6P is shorthand for six Malay words beginning with p: pendaftaran (registration), pemutihan (legalisation), pengampunan (amnesty), pemantauan (supervision), penguatkuasaan (enforcement) and pengusiran (deportation).[73] Illegal immigrants were given three weeks to accept the offer or face legal penalties if found without a valid travel document or work permit.[74] There was a call to strengthen the programme by monitoring management companies appointed as intermediaries between employers and illegal foreign workers.[75]

Malaysian authorities have frequently cracked down on illegal immigrants (sometimes without notice), with more frequent enforcement since 2014.[76] Illegal immigrants are imprisoned, caned and deported.[77] In early 2017, a former employee of the Malaysian Registration Department (JPN) was sentenced to 156 years in prison for giving illegal citizenship to Filipino immigrants in Sabah.[78]

A joint border commission has been formed with the Philippines to patrol from the southern Philippines to East Malaysia,[79] and Thailand has agreed to lengthen its border wall along the Malaysian state of Kedah to curb the flow of illegal workers across the MalayThai border.[80] Spanish Ambassador to Malaysia Mara Bassols Delgado has urged the country to develop closer ties with other ASEAN nations to solve the immigrant problem: "Close understanding between Asean countries would result in a more effective approach to identify the individuals who entered the country illegally and without identification papers. This would facilitate the process of sending them back to their countries of origin".[81] Malaysia received two Bay-class patrol boats from Australia in 2015, and said that the vessels would be used to protect their maritime borders from illegal migration across the Straits of Malacca.[82] Before a November 2016 meeting between Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in Putrajaya, both leaders agreed to deport illegal Filipino migrants and refugees in Sabah back to the Philippines and signed agreements to improve the social conditions of legal Filipino migrants and expatriates in the state with a school, hospital, and consulate.[83] That month, Thai Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan announced a plan to replace the southern MalayThai border fence with a wall; Wongsuwan got the idea from a meeting in Laos with his Malaysian counterparts.[84]

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Illegal immigration to Malaysia - Wikipedia

Major Attempt to alter US Immigration System

The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA or the SimpsonMazzoli Act) was passed by the 99th United States Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on November 6, 1986.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act altered U.S. immigration law by making it illegal to hire illegal immigrants knowingly and establishing financial and other penalties for companies that employed illegal immigrants. The act also legalized most undocumented immigrants who had arrived in the country prior to January 1, 1982.

Romano L. Mazzoli was a Democratic Representative from Kentucky and Alan K. Simpson was a Republican Senator from Wyoming who chaired their respective immigration subcommittees in Congress. Their effort was assisted by the recommendations of the bipartisan Commission on Immigration Reform, chaired by Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, then President of the University of Notre Dame.

These sanctions would apply only to employers who had more than three employees and did not make a sufficient effort to determine the legal status of their workers.

The first SimpsonMazzoli Bill was reported out of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. The bill failed to be received by the House, but civil rights advocates were concerned over the potential for abuse and discrimination against Hispanics and growers' groups rallied for additional provisions for foreign labor; the United States Chamber of Commerce persistently opposed sanctions against employers. The second SimpsonMazzoli Bill eventually reached both chambers in 1985 but fell down on the cost issue in the conference committee. That year was a major turning point for attempts to change. Workplace resistance to workplace fines started to subside, partially owing to the law's "affirmative protection" provision, which expressly freed employers from the duty to verify the validity of workers' records.

Also, agricultural employers shifted their focus from opposition to employer sanctions to a concerted campaign to secure alternative sources of foreign labor. As opposition to employer sanctions waned and growers' lobbying efforts for extensive temporary worker programs intensified, agricultural worker programs began to outrank employer sanctions as the most controversial part of reform.

President Ronald Reagan did not make immigration a major focus of his administration. However, he came to support the package of reforms sponsored by Simpson and Mazzoli and signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act into law in November 1986.[1] Upon signing the act at a ceremony held beside the newly-refurbished Statue of Liberty, Reagan said, "The legalization provisions in this act will go far to improve the lives of a class of individuals who now must hide in the shadows, without access to many of the benefits of a free and open society. Very soon many of these men and women will be able to step into the sunlight and, ultimately, if they choose, they may become Americans."[2]

The act required employers to attest to their employees' immigration status and made it illegal to hire or recruit unauthorized immigrants knowingly. The act also legalized certain seasonal agricultural undocumented migrants and undocumented migrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982 and had resided there continuously with the penalty of a fine, back taxes due, and admission of guilt. Candidates were required to prove that they were not guilty of any crime, had been in the country before January 1, 1982, and possessed at least a minimal knowledge about U.S. history and government and the English language.[3]

The law established financial and other penalties for those employing undocumented migrants, under the theory that low prospects for employment would reduce undocumented migration. Regulations promulgated under the Act introduced the I-9 form to ensure that all employees presented documentary proof of their legal eligibility to accept employment in the United States.[4]

By splitting the H-2 visa category created by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, the 1986 law created the H-2A visa and H-2B visa categories, for temporary agricultural and non-agricultural workers, respectively.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act did not address the status of children of undocumented migrants who were eligible for the amnesty program. In 1987, Reagan used his executive authority to legalize the status of minor children of parents granted amnesty under the immigration overhaul,[5] announcing a blanket deferral of deportation for children under 18 who were living in a two-parent household with both parents legalizing or with a single parent who was legalizing.[6] That action affected an estimated 100,000 families.

The passing of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act allowed for an update in the registry date. Registry in the United States is a stipulation within immigration law that allows undocumented immigrants to apply for permanent resident status if they entered the country before the established registry date and have remained in the country since, along with other specific requirements.[7] This provision was enacted through the Registry Act of 1929, and it has been updated four times since. IRCA changed the registry date from June 30, 1948 to January 1, 1972, allowing for the legalization of nearly 60,000 undocumented immigrants from 1986 to 1989 alone.[8] The registry date has not been updated since, which has resulted in an exponential decrease of immigrants eligible for a path to citizenship through the registry date provision. For instance, from 2015 to 2019, only 305 individuals were granted legal status through the 1972 registry date.[9][10] Several political figures and immigration activists advocate for an advance in the current entry deadline, which would allow for the legalization of millions of long-term undocumented immigrants.[11]

In addition to the update in the registry date, the Immigration Reform and Control Act provided amnesty to two groups of applicants. Aliens who had been unlawfully residing in the United States since before January 1, 1982 (LAWs) were legalized under Section 245A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), while aliens employed in seasonal agricultural work for a minimum of 90 days in the year prior to May, 1986 (SAWs) were legalized under Section 210A of the INA. Nearly three million people applied for legalization under the IRCA.[12] Through the update in the registry date along with the LAW and SAW programs enacted by IRCA, approximately 2.7 million people were ultimately approved for permanent residence.

According to one study, the IRCA caused some employers to discriminate against workers who appeared foreign, resulting in a small reduction in overall Hispanic employment. There is no statistical evidence that a reduction in employment correlated to unemployment in the economy as a whole or was separate from the general unemployment population statistics.[13] Another study stated that if employees were hired, wages were being lowered to compensate employers for the perceived risk of hiring foreigners.[14]

The hiring process also changed as employers turned to indirect hiring through subcontractors. "Under a subcontracting agreement, a U.S. citizen or resident alien contractually agrees with an employer to provide a specific number of workers for a certain period of time to undertake a defined task at a fixed rate of pay per worker."[14] "By using a subcontractor the firm is not held liable since the workers are not employees. The use of a subcontractor decreases a worker's wages since a portion is kept by the subcontractor. This indirect hiring is imposed on everyone regardless of legality."[14]

Despite the passage of the act, the population of illegal immigrants rose from 5 million in 1986 to 11.1 million in 2013.[15] In 1982, the Supreme Court forbade schools to deny services based on illegal immigration status in Plyler v. Doe. In 1986, Reagan signed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), which forbade hospitals from denying emergency care services based on immigration status.

Illegal immigration occurs when an individual enters the U.S. in any way without inspection from border personnel, or by overstaying a temporary visa.[16] Researchers and immigration enforcement institutions use apprehensions data to estimate the number of undocumented immigrants present within the U.S.[17] Customs and Border Protection (CBP) define apprehensions as, the physical control or temporary detainment of a person who is not lawfully in the U.S. which may or may not result in an arrest.[18]

In the years after IRCA (1986-1989), illegal immigration decreased slightly before returning to pre-IRCA levels.[19] Multiple studies estimate the initial decrease as a result of legalization of previously undocumented immigrants who illegally crossed back-and-forth between the U.S. and Mexico continually (known as circular immigration) now being able to do so legally, subsequently avoiding apprehension.[20][17] A long-term study published in 2011 analyzed border apprehensions from 1977 to 2000 and found that the decade after the IRCA amnesty program, apprehensions along the U.S.-Mexico border slightly decreased.[17] Multiple studies also found that neither the amnesty provided under IRCA, nor the potential for a future amnesty program, encouraged illegal immigration in the long-term.[17][19]

While IRCA did not encourage illegal immigration, it failed to curb it.[19] Some attribute this failure to a lack of focus on key determinants of immigration. A 2007 study in Hinckley Journal of Politics titled, The Ephemeral Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986: Its Formation, Failure and Future Implications, defined these determinants as, relative US wage levels, labor market flexibility, probability and cost of crossing the border, ability to find work, demographic changes, political turmoil, demand for labor in growing sectors, existing immigration networks and family relationships.[21] The same study highlighted the failed attempt of employer sanctions that established criminal and civil punishments on employers for knowingly hiring or continuing to employ undocumented immigrants.[22] These sanctions resulted in little governmental oversight and enforcement, a lack of motivation and economic incentive on the part of employers to ensure all employees legal status prior to hiring (also known as E-Verify), and in some cases an open acceptance and willingness to pay the fines imposed.[21] While immigration policy design in the U.S. can and does have an effect on apprehensions and migratory patterns, external factors and determinants that exist outside of U.S. immigration policy also influence migratory flows and subsequent legal or illegal immigration. A study by Joshua Linder titled, The Amnesty Effect: Evidence from the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, found that the economic conditions in Mexico have the greatest impact on the flow of undocumented immigrants.[17] Others attribute IRCA's failure to stem illegal immigration to its focus on tougher border enforcement. Border Patrol focused its efforts on common entry areas along the U.S.-Mexico border; however, this pushed migrants to more rural, less-policed areas along the border and encouraged new tactics such as the use of "coyotes" and underground tunnels.[21][23]

A 2015 study found that the legalization of three million immigrants reduced crime by 3 to 5%, primarily property crime.[24] Its author asserts that to be caused by greater job market opportunities for the immigrants.[24] Contrastingly, a 2014 study in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy found that IRCA likely caused an increase in crime, especially felony drug charges, by restricting the employment opportunities for unauthorized migrants.[25] Its authors, in a 2015 journal article, further argue that the changes in felony charges could be motivated by the polices shift in treatment and persecution of immigrants after IRCA was enacted.[26] This is particularly accurate for Hispanic individuals, who accounted for approximately three-fourths of the 2.7 million immigrants that received a legal status through the LAW and SAW programs included in IRCA.[26][27] Others have found a direct relation between the passing of IRCA in 1986 with the decline in arrests along the U.S-Mexico border, explained by the amnesty provided to those non-citizens eligible that would have otherwise been part of the seasonal immigration flow.[28]

Following the Short title, the IRCA is divided into seven Titles (I through VII). Title I is divided into parts A, B, and C, and Title III is divided into parts A and B. The IRCA affects 8 USC 1101. Additional portions of the U.S. Code created or amended by the IRCA include, but are not necessarily limited to:

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Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 - Wikipedia

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis decision to send 50 Venezuelan immigrants to Marthas Vineyard has thrust illegal immigration into the fire of the contentious midterm elections while giving DeSantis a leg up in the GOP 2024 race.

As the group of immigrants shipped to Cape Cod courtesy of taxpayers DeSantis seemed to bask in the national publicity of the move, saying he planned to send more planeloads of illegal immigrants to tony Democratic sanctuary states like Massachusetts.

The political tug of war over the immigrants from both sides of the aisle focused the spotlight squarely on the immigration crisis at the borders which is what Republicans want.

But outraged Democrats say the callous political decision by DeSantis was a cruel stunt and noted that Marthas Vineyard residents welcomed the immigrants at least for two days and did not shun them.

What theyre doing is simply wrong, its un-American its reckless, President Biden said.

DeSantis said the crisis showed that Bidens open borders immigration policy is not working.

Its only when you have 50 illegal aliens end up in a very wealthy, rich sanctuary enclave that he decides to scramble on this, DeSantis said on Friday.

DeSantis, who has a re-election race but is already gearing for a 2024 White House campaign, could now be displacing former President Donald Trump as the GOPs top dog. The Florida governor wants a confrontation with Biden.

While Trump has been sidelined by the legal battle over top secret White House documents, with a possible indictment looming, DeSantis has pounced to fill the void.

Republicans hope to seize on the illegal immigration crisis to keep weakened Democrats on the defensive right before the November elections.

Immigration could stand beside abortion rights and the economy as the major issues driving voters, and DeSantis helped light the fire.

While Massachusetts a lost cause for Republicans and GOP Gov. Charlie Baker mobilized the National Guard to help the Venezuelan immigrants, the state must also spend money on health care, housing, jobs and education a situation border states are already dealing with.

Just because they show up on Marthas Vineyard and get bottled water and fruit cups, getting treated more like exchange students, thats far from the end of the problem. For each one of these immigrants its a major allocation of taxpayer-funded resources.

And what if 5,000 not 50 immigrants get bused up here?

It stands to put a major strain on the resources of small communities and states, and ultimately the immigrants will end up in the poorest communities Brockton, Lawrence, Chelsea not Wellesley or Edgartown.

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Battenfeld: The political tug of war over illegal immigration explodes on the Vineyard - Boston Herald