The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act in 1986

The 1986 Comprehensive Immigration Reform—A Short Review

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) [Public Law 99-603] secured legal immigration status for 2.7 million illegal aliens. IRCA was an omnibus or comprehensive immigration reform law—an attempt to form a grand bargain that resolve many immigration policy disputes.

History of prior comprehensive immigration reform acts may help anchor us in our on-going comprehensive immigration reform debate a little more than 20 years later.

The 1986 comprehensive immigration reform included “employer sanctions” for knowingly employing unauthorized workers, principally illegal aliens (the Form I-9 employment eligibility verification laws). 

The second aspect of the 1986 comprehensive immigration reform legislation was the legalization package. The promise of the 1986 comprehensive immigration reform act was that employer sanctions would eliminate the lure of jobs in the U.S. economy, thus ending the reason for illegal aliens entering the U.S; and the legalization package put several important groups of illegal aliens on the path to citizenship. 

The 1986 comprehensive immigration reform act was intended to thus both shrink the size of the current and future illegal populations.

IRCA included four separate legalization programs within its 100 pages, which at the time was a rather large amount of pages.

Two of the IRCA legalization programs involved an extremely narrow focus that drew a few thousand applicants. The Registry program gave legal status to long-term illegal aliens who could document their presence in the U.S. since January 1, 1972. Another narrow class of illegal aliens granted legalization under IRCA was Cubans who entered illegally during the Cuban Mariel crisis, and Haitians who took advantage of the Mariel opportunity.

The major legalization program of the comprehensive immigration reform act of 1986 (IRCA) amended the Immigration and Naturalization Act adding Section 245A providing legal status to aliens who: a) applied between May 5, 1987, and May 4, 1988; b) had been in the country continuously since January 1, 1982; c) who did not have serious criminal records; and, d) who met some other stipulations. 1,763,434 aliens applied under Section 245A.

The other major legalization program in the 1986 comprehensive immigration reform act included the Special Agricultural Worker (SAW) program providing legal status to aliens who had done seasonal farm work in the United States for at least 90 days in 1984, 1985, or 1986, and who applied between June 1, 1987, and November 30, 1988. The SAW legalization drew 1,277,041 applicants.

SAW and the pre-1982 programs created a new legal immigration status “Temporary Resident Aliens” (TRAs), a step toward green card or permanent residence status.  Temporary Resident Aliens had limited access to government-funded programs, and they could not use the TRA status to sponsor more immigrants into the U.S.

The House of Representatives and the agricultural growers’ lobby made an issue to porvide farm workers an easier path to legalization. SAWs could legalize based on much shorter stays in the United States and had a longer period during which to apply for legalization. The SAWs, unlike the pre-1982s, did not have to meet any English-speaking or civics requirements to secure a “green card”.  In some circumstances SAWs could apply from outside the U.S. and their transition from TRA status to green card status was automatic, which was not the case for the pre-1982s.

The comprehensive immigration reform in 1986, which was intended to resolve illegal alien circumstances, legalized about 2.7 million persons, and required, generally five years presence in the U.S. with no serious criminal record.

DHS/ICE enforcement of I-9 and employer sanctions laws targets employers through on-site investigations and administrative or "desktop" audits. 

I-9 compliance (and E-Verify for registered employers, now including certain federal contractors (FAR), require that employers verify all workers’ employment eligibility, or work authorization. Persons not authorized for employment, whether documented foreign nationals (or "illegal immigrants") generally do not have work authorization. The I-9 laws and the employment eligibility verification process restrict employment of illegal or undocumented immigrants and employment of persons who are not "employment authorized".

Employer failure to verify employment eligibility and properly complete and retain I-9 Forms. I-9 employer employment verification laws are enforced by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and ICE enforcement policy now targets employers. I-9 employer sanctions subject the company to stiff I-9 criminal and civil liabilities, including imprisonment, asset forfeiture, and treble damages in RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization) lawsuits by competitors. Executives, officers, managers, supervisors and key employees, as well as accountants are personally liable for civil and criminal penalties for I-9 related errors and unlawful employment eligibility verification (EEV) practices.

Employer, executive, manager and supervisor liability is based on knowingly hiring or continuing to employ unauthorized workers. Employer liability extends to circumstantial evidence and “constructive knowledge”.
 The I-9 process mandates accurate and timely completion of the Form I-9 by all U.S. employers and their employees.

Goulder Immigration Law Firm assists employers with Form I-9 consulting, including I-9 and employer sanctions compliance training, developing a company I-9 and employer sanctions compliance manual, and employment eligibility compliance auditing services.  Written I-9 compliance policies and a Form I-9 and employer sanctions law internal audit will help protect employers from government fines and criminal penalties and help ensure that all I-9 Forms comply with I-9 and employer sanctions laws.  The web's most authoritative source for Form I-9 compliance information is www.I-9employmenteligibility.com.

Gerald Goulder is a North Carolina immigration lawyer with clients throughout the United States and the world.  His services assist employers develop recommended Forms I-9 compliance procedures and practices, and avoid substantial civil and criminal penalties that may be assessed for I-9 employment eligibility violations. His services include training company personnel on properly completing and retaining Forms I-9, creating company policies and procedures for all aspects of proper Form I-9 compliance, and conducting internal company I-9 audits of its Forms I-9.  His I-9 and worksite enforcement blog and I-9 employment eligibility verification website provide the most authoritative and extensive information on the Internet concerning Form I-9 compliance and employer sanctions laws. Contact Gerald Goulder through his websites (www.gouldervisa.com or www.I-9employmenteligibility.com) or by phone at 1-866-US VISAS.