And one of the “stressed at the time points of the 1986 amnesty”,(besides the fact that it was a one time never to be repeated action by the feds) was that it would prevent the USA from ever becoming a country with an officially designated caste tiered system of “legal foreign residents vs legal citizens”.
I know people who are legal residents, but not citizens, of the USA. They don't get to vote, they don't (or didn't) have access to taxpayer funded programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and all the other social “welfare” programs, including Unemployment, WIC, etc.
Because this nation can not survive, if ever larger numbers of people live here, but are not equal under the laws.
One law for me, another for thee...NOT a viable way to retain our Republic, our freedoms or our national unity.
For all those multiple millions of foreign legal immigrants in waiting, who sincerely want to become citizens of the USA, I can only apologize for the depravity of our current elected leaders, and promise them that multiple millions of people in the USA are working towards putting them first in line, and not last!
Back in the Eighties, when the Democrats talked Reagan into amnestying “one million” illegals, it actually turned out to be three million. Which has since drawn tens of millions of additional illegals into our country. That is the history. That is the pattern. Obama’s actions tonight will very likely draw literally hundreds of millions of foreign nationals across our borders in the coming years, unless we change our leaders and real action is taken to stop it. This is an existential threat to our children and grandchildren, folks. It’s very serious business.