Of the nearly 4 million illegal immigrants eligible to apply for legal residency under the 1986 law, 55 percent were from Mexico, according to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. The law gave immigrants who came to America before 1982 one year, between May 1987 and May 1988, to apply for temporary resident status and permits for employment.
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/07/16/bush.mexico/
Over the years the figure reported most often is 2-3 million illegals. I took 2.5 million. But that is not the point. Bad policy back then, is still bad policy today. Besides, the debate is not what Reagan did, its what Bush wants to do. Bush`s guest worker proposal from early 2004, is nothing then a backdoor amnesty fo illegals. The McCain-Kennedy bill is a road to citizenship. The Cornyn-Kyl bill isn't much better.
Cong Tancredo's Rewarding Employers that Abide by the Law and Guaranteeing Uniform Enforcement to Stop Terrorism Act of 2005 or the REAL GUEST Act of 2005 starts to get the job done the right way.
Lets do immigration reform the right way this time.