President Trump gave supporters of immigration enforcement a jolt Sunday night. In an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” he called his administration’s deportation policy “too tough” and entertained a deal with Democrats that could allow some people here illegally to stay. The president who promised mass deportations has put legal status back on the table.
Trump spoke sympathetically of hotel and landscaping workers who have lived here for 10 or 15 years. He offered no plan or eligibility rules. On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said amnesty was out of the question. Good. But after the president’s remarks, a warning is in order: We have seen this “bargain” before. It failed.
Migrants are plainly paying attention to Washington’s political signals. Congress should pay attention to the signals it sends.
In 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, legalizing roughly 2.7 million illegal aliens. The law also established penalties for employers who knowingly hired unauthorized workers and a process for verifying employment eligibility. Americans were told that legalization and enforcement would work together to bring illegal immigration under control.
They didn’t. The legalization happened, but lasting enforcement did not. The estimated population living in the United States illegally fell to around 1.9 million in 1988, then grew to around 12.4 million by 2007. Economic conditions and other policies contributed to that increase; the numbers do not prove that amnesty alone caused it. They do prove that the promised solution did not solve the problem.
The law’s enforcement provisions proved terribly inadequate. The Government Accountability Office later found weaknesses in employment verification and worksite enforcement that left employers too much room to hire illegal labor. Washington had provided legal status to millions without building an effective system to prevent the next wave.
California offers a lesson in the political afterlife of legalization. Los Angeles limited police immigration inquiries in 1979, and San Francisco declared itself a refuge in 1985. But the 1986 amnesty created a new legal immigrant constituency. Researchers have found increased Hispanic voter turnout and officeholding in communities affected by legalization. Then the fight over California’s 1994 Proposition 187 helped mobilize an immigrant-rights movement whose political influence eventually contributed to the state’s 2017 sanctuary law.
Legalization is not the sole cause of California’s politics. It is part of the history that shaped them.
Now we are apparently invited to make the same deal, only this time with the assurance that the people who have been here long enough, worked hard enough, or paid enough taxes should be allowed to remain. How long is long enough? Ten years? Fifteen? And what would prevent a future Congress from moving the cutoff date again?
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Amnesty creates an expectation worth examining before Washington acts: If someone can enter or remain illegally and eventually receive legal status, others may calculate that patience will pay. That incentive cannot be measured by a single migration statistic, but dismissing it would be foolish. The message a law sends beyond our borders is part of the law’s effect.
This is more than a theoretical incentive. CNN reported on Saturday that caravans from Honduras and El Salvador were headed toward the United States, with some travelers hoping the newly elected Democratic Congress would ease their passage. Telemundo reported Monday that hundreds were moving through southern Mexico and that some expected the election to change border policy. It has not. Their hopes may prove groundless. But migrants are plainly paying attention to Washington’s political signals. Congress should pay attention to the signals it sends.
There is a cost to American workers, too. Employers who evade immigration and employment rules gain an advantage over businesses that obey them. Workers in construction, agriculture, hospitality, and service jobs deserve a labor market in which the law is enforced consistently. Legalizing people already employed does not, by itself, add new workers to the labor force. The greater concern is an arrangement that rewards the existing violation while leaving the incentive for the next one intact.
The 1986 experience also warns against treating eligibility verification as a formality. A Justice Department inspector general later described the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s belief that fraud had been widespread in the law’s special agricultural worker program. Any new legalization would require a credible system for verifying identity, residence, and eligibility. Why should anyone trust Washington to deliver one after the fact?
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There is nothing wrong with Congress discussing immigration law. There is everything wrong with making lawful status the opening bid while reliable enforcement remains aspirational. A durable policy would make employers answer for illegal hiring, verify work eligibility, maintain border security, and enforce removal orders under the law. It would not tell the next generation of illegal entrants that the political calendar eventually wipes the slate clean.
The president has fought battles over border security that previous administrations preferred to avoid. He should not squander that record because last week’s elections went badly for Republicans. A defeat at the polls is no reason to abandon a principle at the negotiating table. Nor should a softer public-relations message be confused with a solution to the failures that have persisted since 1986.
Markwayne Mullin and Stephen Miller are right to draw a hard line against amnesty. Trump should draw the same line, publicly and without qualification. The country has already paid for one grand compromise that delivered legalization and promised lasting enforcement. There is no reason to buy another ticket to the same movie. No amnesty.
American workers, Border policy, Border security, Homeland security, Illegal immigrants, Illegal immigration, Immigration enforcement, Immigration law, Immigration reform, Justice department, Labor market, Legal status, Markwayne mullin, Population growth, President trump, Stephen miller, Worksite enforcement, Opinion & analysis
