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The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA)

The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), enacted in 1986, transformed American policy on immigration. The federal government, faced with an increasing tide of illegal immigrants entering the United States, abandoned its front-end approach of trying to control America's borders. In its place, Congress crafted a back-end approach that required employers to verify the legal immigration status of all new employees. Employers who failed to confirm that status or knowingly hired illegal aliens faced stiff fines and even possible criminal punishment. This paper will examine the IRCA and how American businesses have coped with the law.

The U.S. may be a country of immigrants, but it has not always put out the welcome mat for newcomers. Northern Europeans were often welcomed, while Southern Europeans were frowned upon and racist attitudes prompted the U.S. government to exclude immigrants from Asia. Nonetheless, immigration provided a huge supply of cheap labor for a nation that had barely tapped its western frontier. From 1880 to 1920, demographic changes altered the makeup of the immigrant population, as Southern and Eastern Europeans eclipsed Northern Europeans as the predominant immigrant group. During that period, many began to call for limitations on immigration and the first substantial barriers were erected (Simpson 149).

World War I fueled those sentiments, leading to immigration quotas in 1917 and 1924, followed by another major piece of immigration legislation in 1952. Tinkering continued in 1965, as President Johnson signed a law that made the reunification of families the primary focus of America's immigration policy. At that time, the government mainly concerned itself with legal immigration (Simpson 153).

That soon changed, not coincidentally as America's economic situation deteriorated. In the 1970s, the U.S. economy foundered and unemployment soared. At the same time, illegal immigration from Lati...

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The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 14:50, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1709414.html