[Reagan Man]

Reagan didn't support open borders. Reagan said: "A nation without borders is not a nation." Reagan did sign into law the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. It effected 2.5 million illegal aliens. It specified prosecution and punishment for employers who violated the law by hiring illegals. If the provisions of that law were enforced, the IRCA of 1986 would have turned out to be what it was meant to be, a one time amnesty deal. Instead, the Feds lack of enforcement led to an ongoing series of liberal immigration policies under Bush41, Clinton and Bush43, that has led to the 10-15 million illegals we have living in the US today. 4-5 million of those illegals came here under Bush`s time in office. Lets not make the same mistake again.

[yellowdoghunter]

Thanks for the facts. Much appreciated.

[Peach]

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/

[La Enchiladita]

Besides the fact, Reagan Man, we are now living in a POST 9/11 AMERICA. That makes the issue that much more crucial and urgent.

I was speculating with someone the other day on what the history of illegal immigration might be. So, here goes:

Pre-WWII, the Okies came west to work in the fields and the packing plants. They were then needed elsewhere during WWII, so in came the Mexicans. Migrant labor became a fact of life. During the '60s and '70s, the United Farm Workers arose to decry the plight of hispanic farm workers and win more rights for them. In the late '70s, Carter granted refugee status to immigrants from several Latin American nations, beginning the influx of the type of hispanic immigrants/illegals that we now have.

Reagan granted amnesty in 1986, which you have to admit benefitted business interests because the employer penalties have never been truly enforced. To enable the non-enforcement, employers hired illegals then called in the INS just before payday to roundup the illegals and deport them.

Then, during the '90s as Latino advocacy grew -- especially with the foundation of MALDEF -- the roundups ceased and illegal entry to this country continued apace, while Clinton-Gore greased the skids for NAFTA.

So, for Bush and RNC loyalists who wonder why the current President is "blamed" for the present malign neglect of our southern border, the answer is: This is a POST 9/11 AMERICA. THIS IS A POST 9/11 WORLD. That has contributed greatly to the growing concern among flyover country Americans, as well as the administration enthusiastically pushing CAFTA, FTAA and the Totalization Treaty in the name of "western hemisphere cooperation" while ignoring Mexico's non-support in the WOT and not following through on fighting the cocaine industry in Colombia.