President of the U.S., 1981-1989; Republican Governor (CA)
1986 reform legalized 3 million undocumented immigrants
We have already been burned once by false promises of border security in exchange for tying security to other aspects of the immigration debate. President Reagan, in 1986, signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which legalized close to
3 million undocumented immigrants. The laws was supposed to be a comprehensive solution with provisions intended to clamp down on border security.
These provisions were never enforced, and the subsequent explosion in illegal crossings has resulted in some 11 million illegal aliens living in the United States today. An estimated 1.8 million illegal immigrants are currently residing in
Texas, compared with 1.1 million in 2000. In ten years, that represents an increase of 54 percent, or 70,000 persons each year coming to our state illegally.
In 1986 I voted for the Simpson-Mazzoli immigration bill because we were told it would solve the problem of massive illegal immigration. In his diaries, President Ronald
Reagan said he was going to sign the bill because we had to regain control of our borders. The Simpson-Mazzoli bill contained three promises:
The government would make a concerted effort to control the borders.
An effective employer verification program would ensure that only legal workers were hired.
One-time amnesty would be granted for people illegally in the United States.
All three promises were broken.
The government has made no serious effort to control our borders. Employers continue knowingly to hire illegal immigrants without any real fear of punishment.
Allow free movement of people from Mexico & Canada
Reagan himself was a dreamer, capable of imagining a world without trade barriers. In announcing his presidential candidacy in Nov. 1979, he had proposed a “North American accord” in which commerce & people would move freely across the borders of Canada
& Mexico. This idea, largely overlooked or dismissed as a campaign gimmick in the US, rankled nationalist sensibilities in the neighboring nations. But Reagan was serious in his proposal. Though he traveled only once outside the North American continent
during his first 57 years, he was neither insular nor isolationist. California has windows to the world in Asia, and Reagan thought of the US as a Pacific power as well as an Atlantic one. He also had a Californian’s consciousness of Mexico and an
actor’s appreciation of Canadians, who are well-represented in the film community. The dream of a North American accord would drive the successful pursuit of a US-Canadian free trade agreement and a future-oriented “framework” trade agreement with Mexico
