The Republican President Ronald Reagan, despite his fiscal conservatism, chose to legalize undocumented immigrants rather than initiate massive deportations. In 1986, he supported the Immigration Reform and Control Act, enabling 2.7 million undocumented individuals to gain permanent residency and a path to citizenship. The legislation aimed to also reduce illegal crossings, strengthening border enforcement, but the intended results did not materialize, as illegal apprehensions surged again. Currently, there exists an opportunity for Democrats to pursue humane immigration reform, addressing economic and moral responsibilities.
Reagan rejected the pointless cruelty and economic disruption of a campaign to deport 5 million people who lacked legal status but were simply trying to support themselves.
The Immigration Reform and Control Act created the largest immigration legalization program in American history: permanent residency, with a path to citizenship, for 2.7 million undocumented aliens.
Today we face another crossroads in immigration policy. But this time it is Democrats who have an opening to do the right thing-morally, economically, and politically.
Besides amnesty, the 1986 law had a second, equally important, objective: drying up the flow of illegal crossings that had made amnesty a necessity.
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