The History of Amnesty
In a letter to a US newspaper, The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, the writer, Steve Reiss, points to a disturbing fact: If the current immigration bill being debated by congress passes, it will be the EIGHTH amnesty for illegal immigrants in the past 21 years.
To quote the letter:
1. Immigration and Reform Control Act (IRCA) Amnesty, 1986: A blanket amnesty for 2.7 million illegal aliensNotice that other than the 1986 Reagan amnesty, all of the above were done in the 1990-2000, under the Clinton administration.
2. Section 245(i) Amnesty, 1994: A temporary rolling amnesty for 578,000 illegal aliens
3. Section 245(i) Extension Amnesty, 1997: An extension of the rolling amnesty created in 1994
4. Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) Amnesty, 1997: An amnesty for nearly one million illegal aliens from Central America
5. Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act Amnesty (HRIFA), 1998: An amnesty for 125,000 illegal aliens from Haiti
6. Late Amnesty, 2000: An amnesty for illegal aliens who claim they should have been amnestied under the 1986 IRCA amnesty, an estimated 400,000 illegal aliens
7. LIFE Act Amnesty, 2000: A reinstatement of the rolling Section 245(i) amnesty, an estimated 900,000 illegal aliens
That's significant because, coincidentally, immigration during the period 1990-2000 was the greatest surge in US history (over 32 million), in fact its about twice that of the immigration wave at the turn of the century (16 million). For an eye-opening graph on this subject, go here.
We don't need to do another experiment. We have the history to prove it. All amnesties do is encourage further illegal immigration. Spain also found this out a little too late, granting an amnesty in 2005 and then having to appeal to the EU for help dealing with the swarm of boat people afterwards, many of them losing their lives at sea.
In the US, its normally across the desert, and plenty of people lose their lives there too. As I said earlier, this could still work though, if border enforcement is increased to the point of real effectiveness. But why take that chance when a better solution is available here?
2 comments:
o im so sorry the site of all these poor people are bothering you in your huge house surrounded by a white fence. but i tell you that they are never going away.
Seems to me that there are more issues here than speculation. Simple supply and demand economics would dictate that as the supply of jobs decreases here in the U.S. so would the number of people immigrating.
It's the criminal underground that you should worry about. This network of opportunistic jackals is the real pestilance. And as was done post Prohibition, once immigration is legalized, this will cease to exist.
Why is it so hard for people to co-exist peacefully?
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