You have to remember that you had to be in the country for at least 5 years to apply for an amnesty. 2.7 million applied. No one really knows how many illegals were in the country--just like today.
Reagan rightly so, still saw this as an issue that need to be confronted. He signed the bill.
He signed a bad bill. It was supposed to be a one-time amnesty. As it turned out, we have had 8 mini-amnesties since then with the latest being Obama's backdoor Dreamer amnesty.
Ed Meese--An Amnesty by Any Other Name
This was perhaps the second biggest problem I had with McCain/Kennedy. It prescribed increasing the legal numbers of immigrants so massively that we would be over-run anyway, legally. I do agree with the primise you're advancing regarding the 1965 act.
The Gang of 8 bill increases legal immigration far more massively than McCain-Kennedy. The Gang of 8 bill has passed the senate with 14 Reps signing on to it. McCain-Kennedy didn't get that far.
Still, what happened after Reagan didn't have to happen. Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama loved it. Don't ask me why, but the Republicans and the Democrats joined to do severe damage to this nation.
It was predictable. Special interests win out.
Reagan wasn't a guy to come out and lie to your face. If he said something he meant it. A guy who saw even one million illegals in our nation as a problem, wasn't going to sit idly by while ten million more came across our border. Both Bushes and Clinton did.
Once you grant an amnesty, you open the door for more amnesties to follow. It sends the message to those contemplating entering the US, that they will have their status legalized eventually. You could say that this amnesty actually increased future illegal entries. Amnesty is the gift that keeps on giving with chain migration. Those amnestied in 1986 are still having an impact as their relatives they sponsored are now sponsoring their own extended families to come here. It was just another justification to increase legal immigration numbers.
The Seven Amnesties Passed by Congress
1. Immigration and Reform Control Act (IRCA), 1986: A blanket amnesty for some 2.7 million illegal aliens
2. Section 245(i) Amnesty, 1994: A temporary rolling amnesty for 578,000 illegal aliens
3. Section 245(i) Extension Amnesty, 1997: An extension of the rolling amnesty created in 1994
4. Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) Amnesty, 1997: An amnesty for close to one million illegal aliens from Central America
5. Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act Amnesty (HRIFA), 1998: An amnesty for 125,000 illegal aliens from Haiti
6. Late Amnesty, 2000: An amnesty for some illegal aliens who claim they should have been amnestied under the 1986 IRCA amnesty, an estimated 400,000 illegal aliens
7. LIFE Act Amnesty, 2000: A reinstatement of the rolling Section 245(i) amnesty, an estimated 900,000 illegal aliens
Add to that Obama's backdoor Dreamer amnesty (DACA) for 1.8 million illegal aliens.
This wasn't a result of the bill Reagan signed. It was a complete surrender on the issue, and if anything Reagan signed stiffer penalties into law. How many employers were fined or sanctioned due to hiring illegal immigrants. I'll bet you can't remember one. I can't.
Why weren't the laws enforced under Reagan or Bush 41? Again, legal immigration is the real problem. We have just had the two highest decades of legal immigration in our history.
