Immigration Policy and Issues in the 1980s

The 1980s Immigration Policy and Issues at the border Citizenship

The 1980s: New Conservatism

  • Presidents Reagan and Bush ushered in a new age of Conservatism:
    • Reforming immigration policies.
    • Cutting down the size of the federal government.
    • Reducing taxes and regulation on businesses.
    • Favoring military and private competition.

Resurgence of Conservatism

  • Voters swept Ronald Reagan into office over Jimmy Carter in 1980.
    • Originally a popular Hollywood actor.
    • Democrat → Republican after feeling that the government had become too powerful.
  • Resurgence of U.S. conservatism:
    • Free market capitalism.
    • Tough on crime and communism.
    • Less welfare spending, more military spending.
    • Tax cuts and “Reaganomics”.

Foreign Policies

  • Reagan Doctrine: Reagan’s foreign policy that said containment wasn’t enough → we need to “roll-back” communism
  • Strategic Defense Initiative (“Star Wars”): Proposed research into a system that would use lasers to shoot down missiles → cost 3030 billion
  • Strong anti-terrorist stance–after a terrorist explosion in Berlin, Reagan announces he would not negotiate with terrorists.
Iran-Contra
  • Iran-Contra Affair: Scandal that revealed that the Reagan administration had secretly sold arms to Iran in exchange for the release of US hostages in Lebanon → acted against Congress and Reagan’s pledge to not negotiate with terrorists
  • Money from those sales went to fund the “Contras”, a group of rebels in Nicaragua fighting against the “Sandanistas”, the communist government in Nicaragua.
  • Congress specifically told Reagan “No, you cannot give money to the Contras”
  • Reagan is investigated and found to have done nothing wrong, expect for not watching his top officials close enough.
  • 1313 People are tried, 1010 are convicted, 22 are given immunity for their testimony, and 66 will be later pardoned by the next President–George H.W. Bush. One person will serve actual prison time.

Immigration Reform and Control Act 1986

  • Signed by President Ronald Reagan
  • Established penalties for employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers
  • Designed to limit and control the number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
  • Most far-reaching change in immigration law since the passage of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act.
  • Increased border security
    • Increased funding for the border patrol
  • Held out the promise of legal status and eventual citizenship to millions of unauthorized immigrants
  • The first large-scale legalization program in U.S. immigration history.
  • Gave amnesty to immigrants already living in the United States
  • Sparked renewal of a national debate on immigration and the issue of undocumented workers living in the U.S.

Immigration Policy 1990-2000

Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act 1996
  • Strengthened penalties for undocumented immigrants who commit crimes while in the United States or who stay in the U.S. for defined periods of time
  • Allows for the deportation of undocumented immigrants who commit a misdemeanor or a felony
    • Murder, rape, sexual abuse of a minor, trafficking drugs/weapons, money laundering, crimes of violence.
  • Designed to improve border control by imposing criminal penalties for racketeering, alien smuggling and the use or creation of fraudulent immigration-related documents
  • Increasing monitoring of visa applications and visa abusers.
  • Created the notion of “unlawfully present”
  • Immigrants who are unlawfully present in the U.S. for 180180 days but under 365365 days must remain outside the United States for three years unless pardoned.
    • If they remain in the United States for 365365 days or more, they must stay outside the United States for ten years unless they obtain a waiver. However, if they return to the U.S. without the pardon, they must wait 1010 years until they may apply for a waiver.”
  • Affected asylum seekers
    • Deters and removes non-citizens appearing at the border without documentation
  • Must file for asylum within one year of entering the country.
    • Immigration officers at the border screen individuals & determine whether they are there to apply for asylum
  • The officer can have the individuals removed from the country and bar them from entering the country for 55 years.
    • If the person is a credible asylum seeker, they are transported and locked up until extensive interviews are conducted to determine if they can stay in the country

Immigration Policy 2000-2010

September 11, 2001
  • Series of attacks committed by terrorists from the extremist group al-Qaeda (led by Osama Bin Laden)
  • Terrorists hijacked four different US planes and flew them into the World Trade Center (NYC) and Pentagon building (DC)
  • 4th plane crashed in PA when passengers resisted the terrorists
  • 3,0003,000 people killed = deadliest attack on U.S. soil
  • Bin Laden sheltered by the Taliban after attacks → Bush vowed to launch “War on Terror” against countries harboring terrorists
War on Terror
  • U.S. military campaign and policy response against terrorist organizations after 9/11
  • Air + ground assaults against Taliban and al-Qaeda
  • Transportation Security Agency (TSA) and Department of Homeland Security created
  • U.S. began the War in Iraq
USA PATRIOT Act (2001)
  • Expanded government’s law enforcement abilities (searches, surveillance, detain immigrants, monitor accounts) → constitutional issues
  • Authorized the NSA to wiretap without warrant
  • Imprisoned suspected terrorists, held them and tortured them at Guantanamo Bay
H.R. 4437, passed in 2006
  • Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act
    • Created on Dec. 16, 2005
    • Passed by the House of Representatives 239 to 182
  • Seeks to address illegal immigration by strengthening interior enforcement of immigration laws and enacting additional border security measures.
  • Increased Border Security Measures:
    • Provides new technology to assist in monitoring ports of entry and land borders.
    • Provides for additional fencing to be constructed along the U.S. – Mexico Border and calls for a study to examine the construction of a fence along the Northern/Canadian Border.
    • Establishes a Border Security Advisory Committee
    • Allows homeland security grants funds to be used to support border enforcement activities.

Immigration Policy 2010-2020

The Obama Presidency
  • Prior to Obama’s Presidency, the unauthorized immigrant population in the U.S. had increased; more than 1212 million by 2007
    • Many voters hoped to see relief for immigrant families
  • Congress initially did NOT agree to any plan for legalizing the undocumented population in the U.S.
    • Obama would have to increase enforcement measures to get Republicans to compromise
    • He heightened the enforcement of Immigration Policies and increased Partnership with the criminal justice system.
2012 DACA
  • Established via Executive Order
  • Obama signed an executive order; Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) which protected from removal nearly 800,000800,000 undocumented immigrants without serious criminal convictions and brought as children to the U.S.
2012 DREAM
  • Established via Legislation
  • The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act was created in response to the children in the U.S. who were in the country without proper documentation and could not enroll in institutions of higher learning.
    • Without social security and permanent residency, they could not apply for loans or financial assistance.
  • Obama announced that undocumented immigrants who matched certain criteria in the DREAM Act, would not be deported.
The Trump Presidency
  • Trump made the topic of immigration a key issue in his campaign for presidency
    • Promised to build a 2000 mile border wall between MX/US and make Mexico pay for it.
  • Trump sent the national guard to “secure the border” and prevent undocumented immigration
  • He authorized ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to carry out deportations of noncitizens
    • Including “Sanctuary cities”
    • Gave ICE permission to access immigration status of anyone who’d been arrested for any reason, enabling targeted deportations
  • Initiated policy that separated undocumented families.
    • Reclassified children as “unaccompanied,” detained them until their case could be heard (in a facility, with a US family member, or foster care)
    • Parents were prosecuted to full extent of the law, detained on criminal charges
  • Built 1515 new miles of fence at the border
    • Mexico did not pay for it
    • The Supreme court found it unlawful and by the end of 2020, DACA was restored
  • Forced migrants to wait in Mexico (or detainment camps) until their asylum case could be heard in U.S. courts.