Illegal Immigration and Immigration Control

Abstract

The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was passed in the closing days of the 1986 legislative session. The primary purpose of IRCA is to remove illegal aliens from the U.S. labor market. It has two primary policy instruments. One is granting legal status or amnesty for certain illegal aliens, thereby in part “wiping the slate clean.” The other is imposing penalties, referred to as employer sanctions, against employers who “knowingly” hire illegal aliens. Employer sanctions are intended to reduce the demand for illegal alien labor. The first sections of this paper develop an economic analysis of the illegal alien labor market, including the determinants of illegal migration and the impact on the economy. Then, that model is applied to the major provisions of IRCA and used to describe its likely consequences. A concluding section argues that because IRCA does not address the economic realities it is not likely to accomplish its objectives. The partial amnesty and impotent employer sanctions have not solved the illegal alien dilemma.

Researching illegality and labour migration

“…This began to change with work drawing from data generated by largescale regularisation processes, particularly in the US but also in Southern Europe (Bean et al, 1987;Chiswick, 1988;Cornelius, 1989). Since the late 1990s illegality and migration have generated a signifi cant body of policy and academic literature.…”

Immigration Amnesty and Immigrant's Earnings

“…Our discussion is drawn largely from the papers by Chiswick (1988), Hoefer (1991), and Rivera-Batiz (1991). Reagan on November 6, 1986 contained two major legalization programs.…”

“…It pursued these goals by providing amnesty to large categories of illegal immigrants and introducing sanctions for employers who knowingly hired undocumented workers (Rivera-Batiz, 1991). There were four major provisions of IRCA (see Chiswick, 1988;Hoefer, 1991;):…”

“…Eligibility for temporary resident status for undocumented aliens who had continuously resided in the United States illegally since January 1, 1982. Chiswick (1988) suggests that the reasoning for the entrance date is the feeling that more recent migrants were not so firmly established that they could not leave. Applications needed to be filed on or before May No shortages were ever found so the RAW never came to pass.…”

“…Applications needed to be filed on or before May No shortages were ever found so the RAW never came to pass. According to Chiswick (1988) and Rivera-Batiz (1991) the SAW and RAW programs were added as compromise items to attract the support of producers of perishable agricultural products. These farmers were particularly vulnerable to a sudden drop in the availability of seasonal agricultural workers.…”