This thread and this discussions is about violations of US codes.
The 1965 immigration act, while it did remove racial, cultural and geopolitical barriers, changed legal immigration standards.
You may have been thinking about Reagan's Immigration Control and Reform Act of 1986 which was did excuse illegal immigration. California's Prop 187 penalized illegal immigrants to the limits that a state could impose.
The remark " what Wilson tore asunder" was a reference to the GOP's perceived image within the illegal alien community. Wilson's support of Prop 187 tore asunder the GOP's hopes of cultivating the votes of illegal aliens. Now Rove and Bush as paddling upstream madly to amend the damage that Wilson wrought. They are pandering as hard as they can to get a slice of the illegal alien vote.
The problems we face today regarding the Mexican invasion over the last 20 years is a direct result of serious policy mistakes made by three administrations. Roosevelt, Reagan and Bush 43. Roosevelt's federal appellant appointments dramatically altered the original intent of "under the control of". Reagan's 1986 legislation green lighted illegal immigration. Bush 43's speech of January 7, 2003 put out the welcome wagon and opened the flood gates.
This is not a case of left or right. This is a travesty of both the left and the right. That travesty is especially bitter because it was driven by two Republicans, both unprincipled, political hacks. Pete Wilson and Carl Rove.
Roosevelt, the third leg of the terrible triangle, was simply a socialist born of privilege who's family shame in the era of world wide depression drove to him shoulder "the white man's burden". He couldn't help it. It was his lot in life to make the US's less fortunate bound economically and socially to his rising class of financial and philosophical elite.
I really appreciate your summary of how we arrived at the present crisis via legislation, policies and PR.
If I may add a footnote to the history lesson. Dan Lungren was CA Atty General in Wilson's administration, and Dan was the one who actually played the heavy in getting 187 enforced. IIRC, when the Latino/liberal outcry followed the passage of 187, Lungren announced he was not deterred from enforcement.
Of course, the whole thing quickly became suspended in limbo as the court case proceeded and eventually died due to judicial defeat of the will of the people.
The agenda-driven segments of our society have figured out all the tricks, all the ways of circumventing what the people want and what is right and good for America.
One more little thing: Lungren is now a Congressional Representative for a district in or around Sacramento, CA, but I am not aware of what kind of rep he is as I never hear a peep out of him.