Immigration Reform and Control Act - Essay Example

Immigration reform and Control Act The immigration Reform and Control Act was enacted in 1986 to curb the rate of illegalimmigrations in the US. At the time of enactment, the rate of unemployment among the low skilled Native citizens was high. The Act provided a provision that prohibited employers from discriminating prospective candidates on the basis of national origin. The Act also created an amnesty program that provided permanent residency status to immigrants who had been in the US since 1982. Other programs like the Agricultural worker program also provided permanent residency status to more illegal immigrants. Border patrols were enforced while all employers were required to verify the legal status of the job candidates as regards the authority to work in the US within three days after employment offer. The Act led to increase in the number of illegal immigrants and other social problems like low wages. Immigration reform and Control Act Immigration Reform and Control Act-requirements and issues in workplace Introduction Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 was enacted to deal with various immigration problems. Section 1324a of the Act prohibits employees to hire or continue employing illegal immigrants with prior knowledge that the employee is an illegal immigrant. All employers are required to make proper verification that all employees are legalized to work in the U.S including the American citizens, aliens holding express authority from the attorney General to work in the US and resident aliens (Schultz, 2000). According to the opponents, granting amnesty and sanctioning employees did not deter illegal immigrations. Allocation of billions of dollars on border patrols and hiring of additional border enforcement agents could not solve the illegal immigration problem unless the US demand for cheap labor was addressed. This paper shall examine the pros and cons of the Act and effects in the workplace and society. Employers are required to submit form 1-9 detailing the documentation of the employees together with identities and authorization to work in the US. Failure to verify the employee documentation and identity will subject the employer to a fine ranging from $ 110 per worker without the Form 1-9 to a maximum penalty of $ 1,100 per worker without the documentation (Schultz, 2000). The debate of the impact of the Act has attracted intense demand with proponents arguing that it was effective in deterring illegal aliens and reducing social problems in the society. On the other hand, opponents of the Act reduced availability of cheap labor in the economy and slowed down economic growth in the agricultural sector (Smith, 1997). The Act aimed at controlling the high flow of undocumented immigrants in to the US and ensuring on authorized residents were entitled to the available job opportunities. The Act sought for increased border surveillance and enforcement of immigration laws and amnesty program for the undocumented immigrants who met certain minimum standards for authorization as legal aliens (Powell, 2005). About 2.3 undocumented aliens from Mexico were granted permanent resident status in the US. The Act provided for sanctions on employers who knowingly employed illegal immigrants unauthorized to work in the US or continued employment of those illegal aliens (Schultz, 2000). The Act also provided sanctions for employers who hired employees without verifying and properly documenting the identity and legal status of the employee in regards to the ability to work in the US (Smith, 1997. More employers were penalized for undue diligence in verifying the identity of the prospective employees and not filing documentation requirements with the relevant authorities (Laet, 2000). On border enforcement program, the Act provided for 50 percent increase in border patrol manpower to apprehend the illegal immigrants along the border points and especially the US-Mexico border. Additional funds were utilized in deporting illegal immigrants (Laet, 2000). Other programs that were created include the general legalization program where illegal immigrants would be accorded temporal resident status on demonstrating they were of good moral character. Such illegal immigrants were required to prove satisfactory knowledge of English language and American civics. Another program was the special agricultural work program (SAW) that accorded permanent residence status to illegal immigrants who proved to have 60 days work experience in certain qualifying crops from May 1985 to May 1986. About 1.3 million illegal immigrants qualified for resident status under the program (Powell, 2005). According to the proponents of the Act, there was a considerable reduction in number of police questioning on the immigration status. The Act led to ended more than 2 million incorrect social security accounts. The act has led to high paying jobs since only the legal and documented residents would access the available jobs. Accordingly, the minorities were the largest beneficiaries of the Act since most of the illegal immigrants of Hispanic origin from Mexico were given permanent resident status (Laet, 2000). The Act gave enough time for the illegal immigrants who were present the US prior to 1982 to adjust their legalize their resident status under the special agricultural worker program. Accordingly, the Act improved the overall working conditions for employees in the agricultural farms. The Act also increased the level of mechanization in the agricultural farms that resulted to efficiency in the production. According to the proponents of the Act, undocumented illegal immigrants were lowering the wages of the native low skilled workers. Most of the illegal immigrants were low skilled thus competed for jobs with the low skilled Native Americans (Powell, 2005). For instance, the school drop outs benefited the most from the enactment of the immigration Reform and control Act since there were so many casual jobs that were left by the deported illegal immigrants. In addition, the US economy was experiencing high unemployment rates for the Native citizens thus it was crucial for the government to enact the Act in order to preserve the jobs to the legal citizens and residents. Another argument raised for the purpose of the Act is the high education costs that US government was spending on the illegal immigrants. The US government was supporting the education of more than 2 million undocumented illegal immigrants’ children at the expense of improving the education standards of the legal citizens’ children (Gonzalez, 2002). Proponents assert that the Act led to reduction of the US budget on elementary education. According to the proponents, most of the illegal immigrants were poor thus they could not afford to support the education expenses of their children (Schultz, 2000). The Act also contains a provision that prohibits employers from sacking or refusing to hire employees from some national origins or citizenships. Employees are also supposed not to request identities and verification of documents selectively on the basis of the candidate’s national origin or from only employees who appear to be foreign nationals (Tysse, 1988). Accordingly, employers are prohibited from giving preference only to US citizens according to the Act. The law prohibits employers from requiring different documents that re genuine and legally acceptable in order for the employee to access employment in the country (Tysse, 1988). The Act also ended coercion, intimidation, threats and possible retaliation against employees who institute legal proceedings for discrimination in the workplace. All employers are expected to cooperate with investigations and hearings of such charges and should not retaliate against such individuals who filed the charges (Tysse, 1988). Accordingly, the Act provided for numerous documentations as proof of evidence that could allow the illegal immigrants access employment. For instance, a driving license and social security cards are enough for the citizen to prove a resident in the US and gain employment (Tysse, 1988). The Act also prohibited employers from discriminating the undocumented workers on the basis of religion, sex and race. Such discrimination is also prohibited by other Statutes (Solotoff & Kramer, 1994). The Act was a great step towards equal opportunity employment since US citizens, Permanent residents, legal temporary residents and refugees were protected from discrimination against their national origin if the employer had more than four employees. The Act protected job candidates from questions touching on their national origin during the interviewing stage since employers are expected to ask for evidence on the legal status of the candidate to work in the US once a job has been offered to the candidate (Solotoff & Kramer, 1994). Illegal immigration subjects the immigrants to exploitation like low wages and worst working conditions. Illegal immigration undermines the rule of law and also assists in the breaking of labor laws like the fair compensation laws. The US has not been able to adjust the immigration requirements to the labor market needs thus wages of the Native American citizens and legal immigrants have not adjusted upwards. The government was also spending heavily on social security. The illegal immigrants mainly worked in the agricultural sector for low wages, most of them could not afford health care insurance to cater for the medical expenses. The US government was thus spending highly on the health sector by catering for the medical expenses of the illegal immigrants (Gonzalez, 2002). On the other hand, the opponents of the Immigration Reform and Control Act assert that illegal immigrants contributed to government revenues through undocumented tax payments. Most of the illegal immigrants filed individual tax returns each year thus increasing the government revenue base. Accordingly, the illegal immigrants contributed towards the social security by paying the State and Local taxes (Hamann, 2007). The opponents of the Act assert it led to increase in the prices of the US consumer goods. Since the illegal immigrants provided cheap labor in the agricultural firms, the prices of the food crops and other consumer goods were low. The construction industry also experienced high labor costs thus the prices of housing went up after the enactment of the Act (Martin, 1995). The Act also lowered the consumer demand in the economy. The Act reduced the overall population in the economy and the gross economic output due to decreased consumption level. The decline in economic spending of the illegal immigrants led to job losses. The legal citizens who provided goods and services to the illegal immigrants experienced a reduction in economic spending thus most of them lost their jobs (Bean, Vernez & Keely, 1989). According to opponents, the Act could not curb illegal immigration since illegal immigrants were required to prove they had been in the US since 1982 by showing evidence of rent receipts and other documents that were more vulnerable to fraud. The requirement to show proficiency in English language was also discriminatory to minorities and aged who could not easily know how to learn. According to the opponents, the SAW program did not improve the working conditions of the agricultural workers. There was still labor surplus in those firms thus employers faced non difficulties in attracting new workers. The abundance of low skilled workers in the firms led to stagnation of wages in those farms. At the time of the passage in 1986, the estimated figure of illegal immigrants was 3 million but currently there are more than 20 million illegal immigrants in the US, most of them work in the low skilled agricultural farms and construction industry (Martin, 1995). According to the opponents, the Act was would prevent diversity of workforce in the US. Illegal immigrants are important to the stability of US economy since they account for about half of the low skilled workforce. The Act delayed the disbursement of funds to the States since many of applicants for temporally residency had to wait till the end of the eligibility period before applying for the permanent residency status. The backlog of immigration applicants has remained high since the enactment of the Act (Bean, Vernez & Keely, 1989). The Act failed in combating illegal immigration. The US should develop a comprehensive immigration policy that includes internal enhancement processes and strict border controls. Stiffer penalties should be imposed on employers who contravene immigration requirements by providing jobs to unauthorized immigrants. A secure immigrant authorization program that is free from fraud should be implemented due to the heightened national security concerns. Visa enforcement and border controls should be intensified since most of the illegal immigrants over-stay on their expired visa. More temporal worker programs should be implemented but such workers should not be allowed to overstay after their limited duration since the short term benefits to the US economy will be offset by long term social, economic and security spending by the government. The US government should also legislate on the minimum wages since many employers prefer employing unauthorized immigrants for low wages (Martin, 1995). Conclusion The Act made it illegal for employers to recruit illegal immigrants knowingly. There was the introduction of Form 1-9 that employers were supposed to document all the identities and documentation presented by the candidate at the time of hiring. Though the Act was intended to curb illegal immigration, it led to more negative consequences in employment matters and the society. Many employers faced sanctions, thus were forced to subcontract the recruitment to other parties. The amnesty that was granted to illegal immigrants who had lived in the US since 1982 also led to breakdown of many families. Most of the illegal immigrants obtained permanent residency under the amnesty program and agricultural program through fraud. The number of illegal immigrants in the US kept on increasing since corruption and fraud was rampant in obtaining proper documentation. One of the major factors that have led to the increase in the oversupply of agricultural workers is the continuing illegal immigration. Most of the illegal immigrants are family members and relatives of the illegal immigrants that were legalized by the Act in 1986. Although the surveillance of the Southern borders has intensified, the number of illegal immigrants in the US keeps on increasing since most of them are low skilled workers looking for employment in the agricultural farms. The employment of illegal immigrants is high since employers fear sanctions in case of discrimination of the employees on the basis of national origin. Employer sanctions are not highly enforced since different documents have been used as a proof of residency thus illegal immigrants can easily access such documents like the social security cards. The wage levels and working conditions have deteriorated due to upsurge in the number of low skilled illegal immigrants. Employers have turned to the use of subcontractors in procuring for manpower due to fear of sanctions. The Act led to breakdowns of families and increase in the costs of consumer goods and construction in the economy. In general, the Immigration and Reform Act increased illegal immigration and the social problems in the society. The rate of wages remained low while the working conditions did not improve. Most of the permanent residency status was obtained through fraud. References: Bean, F., Vernez, G & Keely, C. (1989). 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Sex discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace. New York. Seminars-Press. Tysse, J. (1988). The immigration reform and control act of 1986: a handbook on employer sanctions and non-discrimination requirements. New York. Sage. Read More