However, it is a known fact that Reagan granted amnesty. Even Rubio and Newt commented on it. I am a big Reagan fan and consider him to be one of our greatest leaders but facts are facts.
From Rubio:Rubio delivered a six-minute discourse on immigration policy in which he brought up The Gipper’s support for the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which granted amnesty to most undocumented workers who could prove they had been in the country continuously for the previous five years.
“In 1986 Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to 3 million people,” Rubio said. “You know what happened, in addition to becoming 11 million a decade later? There were people trying to enter the country legally, who had done the paperwork, who were here legally, who were going through the process, who claimed, all of a sudden, ‘No, no no no , I’m illegal.’ Because it was easier to do the amnesty program than it was to do the legal process.”
Reagan signed a bill passed by Congress: the Simpson-Mazzoli Act of 1986. The bill granted amnesty, and it was promised that this act would clean up the illegal problem, and laws would be strictly enforced in the future. That was how it was presented to the American people; a one time fix for the problem. We know how that turned out.
But it is totally wrong to say "Reagan granted amnesty", especially in this discussion where some think Obama might try to grant amnesty through an executive order. Reagan signed a bill, passed by Congress, which granted amnesty.
If presidents could just grant mass amnesty, you can be sure W Bush would have granted it instead of participating in two long and contentious, losing fights for amnesty in 2006 and 2007.