eterans' groups, however, still voiced opposition to increased immigration.
A crucial factor in the postwar migration waves was the robust United States economy which lasted through the 1980s. The country experienced high growth and low unemployment. Consequently, the majority of the American public did not consider illegal immigrants a major threat to their economic status.
In addition to lax United States policy, economic and political forces in foreign countries also prompted the desire for their residents to migrate. Portes and Rumbaut (1990) summarize three factors which prompt migration from foreign countries: "For immigrants, the most relevant contexts of reception are defined by the policies of the receiving government, the conditions of the host labor market, and the characteristics of their own ethnic communities" (p. 85). Government policies are important because they dictate the flow of legal immigration. A government's policy toward illegal immigration is tacitly implied by the diligence of that country in cracking down on undocum
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