Reagan did not create the problem, he did not start the flood by any means-
President Carter’s administration made many changes in the way the border was enforced- the main thing that caused problems was to get Border Patrol away from the border on the theory that they could just patrol the highways near the border. That essentially opened up the border-and started a flood but our wise politicians never figured that one out. Anyway when Reagan took office that was one of the many problems he inherited from Carter. The thinking at the time was to legalize those that had been here for years- then use stiff sanctions against employers so there would be no incentive for new illegals to come. While Reagan was in office the employer sanctions (remember the $10,000 fine for hiring an illegal?) were new and people were afraid to hire illegals- it seemed the program would work. The amnesty part seemed like it was working also- except there was a lot of fraud and illegals that had not been here the required time were able to use fake documents to get amnesty. A few years on down the road- (1st Bush/ early Clinton administrations) employers realized there was no enforcement going on so they started freely hiring illegals again- causing a new flood but President Reagan was no longer in office so he cannot be blamed for the lack of enforcement.
I lived on the border during all this mess, it was really bad during Carter- illegals pouring in, crime- the whole bit. During the Reagan years it slowed down a lot, started to pick up again under the first Bush administration and then was at flood stage under Clinton. Groups of illegals of 50+ were regularly pouring in, crime picked up. The problem had become very serious by the time this President Bush took office; people living on the border complained and were ignored, there was little or nothing done. The Minutemen came into being and made sure word got out about all the problems here- yet President Bush was in denial- he was not only slow to react- he made it plain he didn’t intend to do much. These are the reasons I give Reagan a pass, his administration’s policies worked at the time- and might have continued to work if they had been enforced regularly over the years. I won’t give President Bush a pass because the problems were serious when he took office, he was indeed made aware of them and chose to ignore the issue until he was forced to do something- even then did as little as possible. As bad as the border issues are we also face the very real problem that terrorists are crossing the border as well and still the problems are not being dealt with effectively. That is why I won’t give this President a pass on the border issues- he did inherit the problem, but his policies made the problems worse.
No, but the granting of amnesty certainly made the problem worse.
These are the reasons I give Reagan a pass, his administration’s policies worked at the time
So you're claiming that no (or few) illegal immigrants came across the border in Reagan's time? I'll need some evidence if I'm to buy that.
I won’t give President Bush a pass because the problems were serious when he took office
And it wasn't serious when Reagan granted amnesty? We disagree on that. (Your own words claim that changes Carter made 'started a flood', so obviously the problem was serious then.)
Sorry, Reagan and other previous Presidents get as much blame for this mess as Bush.