Reagan
Signs 1986 Amnesty Bill for 3 Million “Illegals”
(Black
and White Issue:Today Shades of Gray)
President Reagan’s
stance on undocumented immigrants follows below. Also recall he is the hero of
the conservative movement which today is hypocritical on this issue. The background
from the public record can be seen
here and yes, it was amnesty without any doubt (with
my emphasis) note the Reagan quotes:
The illegal alien fuss: In a November 29, 1977 radio address,
Reagan criticized the U.S. DOL for requiring apple growers in New England to hire
Americans, a policy it dropped when not
enough could be found to do the work. “When
the Labor Department is forced to relent and let these visitors do this work it
is of course all legal. But it makes one wonder about the illegal alien fuss.
Are great numbers of our unemployed really victims of the illegal alien
invasion or are those illegal tourists actually doing work our own people won’t
do? One thing is certain in this hungry
world; no regulation or law should be allowed if it results in crops rotting in
the field for lack of harvesters.”
Put down roots: In the October 21, 1984 debate with
Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale, Reagan endorsed
a comprehensive immigration overhaul that Congress was debating saying:
“I supported this bill. I believe in the
idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and who have lived here even though some
time back they may have entered illegally.”
The right to legally live here: In a July 2, 1984 interview with San
Antonio TV reporters, Reagan again endorsed
the immigration overhaul saying: “We
want to be very careful that while we have safeguards to prevent employers from
hiring the undocumented workers, that at the same time there is no
discrimination against those who will be legalized under this bill, those who may
still be undocumented but who’ve lived for a long period of time, put down
roots in our society. We want to give them the right to legally live here and
those who, as you say, are citizens.”
Protected and legitimized: On November 13, 1985 in interview
with the Spanish International Network, Reagan called for a path to
permanent residency for undocumented immigrants to be added to the
immigration overhaul being considered in Congress saying: “For one, we very much need in any
immigration bill — we need protection for people who are in this country and
who have not become citizens, for example, that they are protected and
legitimized and given permanent residency here. And we want to see some things
of that kind added to the immigration bill.”
Step into the sunlight: On November 6, 1986, Reagan signed
the Immigration
Reform and Control Act, which allowed undocumented immigrants to become
citizens if they paid a fine and back taxes and admitted guilt. From his signing
statement that day Reagan said: “We
have consistently supported a legalization program which is both generous to
the alien and fair to the countless thousands of people throughout the world
who seek legally to come to America. The legalization provisions in this
act will go far to improve the lives of a class of individuals who now must
hide in the shadows, without access to many of the benefits of a free and open
society. Very soon many of these men and women will be able to step into the
sunlight and, ultimately, if they choose, they may become Americans.”
My 2 cents: How soon the GOP lost its sense of
history. Today the GOP is nowhere near Reagan
(from NPR), not even close on this issue.
It
was sold as a crackdown: There would be tighter security at the Mexican
border, and employers would face strict penalties for hiring undocumented workers.
The also made any immigrant who'd entered the country before 1982 eligible for
amnesty. That is a word then but used today by any modern conservative.
Nearly
3 million were impacted and it apparently that did not endanger us in any way… at
least not like today under Trump.
Thanks for stopping by.
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