Ever hear of the “draconian” Operation Wetback during the Eisenhower administration that is pointed out as being severe? It had work permits/guest workers through-and-through. Surprised? A work permit and amnesty are apples and harmonicas.
What are you talking about? If illegals who by law ought to be deported are instead given work permits and made legal residents here, that is amnesty.
And Operation Wetback did not include work permits. There was a separate bracero program initiated a decade earlier that sent short-term workers from Mexico to the US—but OW was always about apprehending and then deporting the illegals who were found in high priority (especially border) areas.