IMMIGRATION REFORM & CONTROL ACT OF 1986.   Term Paper ID:25766 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Background, purpose, politics, provisions, effects, problems, penalties, examples.... More...

10 Pages / 2250 Words 13 sources, 22 Citations, MLA Format $40.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Background, purpose, politics, provisions, effects, problems, penalties, examples. Paper Introduction: The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), enacted in 1986, transformed American policy on immigration. The federal government, faced with an increasing tide of illegal immigrants entering the United States, abandoned its front-end approach of trying to control America’s borders. In its place, Congress crafted a back-end approach that required employers to verify the legal immigration status of all new employees. Employers who failed to confirm that status or knowingly hired illegal aliens faced stiff fines and even possible criminal punishment. This paper will examine the IRCA and how American businesses have coped with the law. The U.S. may be a country of immigrants, but it has not always put out the welcome mat for newcomers. Northern Europeans were often welcomed, while Southern Europeans were frowned upon Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. However, an employer cannot compel an employee to show the employee'ssocial security card for immigration purposes, and doing so could result ina $1, fine under the IRCA. Unfortunately, only a fewemployers participate in the program, viewing it as just another burden(Cleeland B1). As Monson Fruit Company and other fruit packing companies found out,though the jobless rate in Yakima Valley is high, most of the jobless areon welfare and have few skills. Department of Justice determined that the employer, in trying tocomply with the INS' dictates, had violated the prospective employee'scivil rights and fined the employer $5, (Cleeland C1). Unlike otherfederal regulations, which exempt small businesses from enforcement bylimiting application to entities with 5 or more employees, the IRCAapplied to every person or entity that employed another person. The fruit packing plant requires someskilled labor. In other words, these individuals, the fruit packing companies,and society as a whole would have been better off if the businesses hadimplemented a program to help their workers become citizens. The IRCA's privacy protections also run counter to requirementsimposed on businesses by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Once anemployer decides to hire a prospective employee, the employer first mustcomplete a Form I-9. The IRCA created a new web of bureaucracy for employers. "Employment Law Dilemmas: What to Do When the Law Forbids Compliance." BYU Journal of Public Law 12 (1997): 175-197.Cleeland, Nancy. At that time, the government mainly concerned itselfwith legal immigration (Simpson 153). Instead of going home,they will simply seek other jobs in other industries with new fakedocuments. Isabel. According to Simpson, illegal immigration posed numerous dangersto the American way of life: lowered wages and working conditions, jobdisplacement in the areas hardest hit (such as the Southwest), andwidespread disrespect for the American legal system brought on by theoverwhelming number of people who broke the law to enter the country(Simpson 152-53). government to exclude immigrants from Asia. These burdens can be onerous, especially for seasonal employers suchas agricultural concerns. Another option open to employers is a pilot program offered by theINS. Employer sanctions were the core of the law, resting on the premisethat illegal immigrants come to the U.S. Theoretically, at least according to Congress' view of the world, twothings should happen: workers who hold legal status would replace thoseillegal workers who had been fired, and the fired workers, unable to findwork, would return to their home country. Meanwhile, the Civil Rights Division ofthe U.S. citizens and legal aliens. When the average fine is $1,612, no wonder many employers come tothe conclusion that it is "just a cost of doing business" (Rojas A1). The employer must keep Form I-9 for three years after the employee ishired or one year after the employment relationship is terminated(whichever is later). Nonetheless,immigration provided a huge supply of cheap labor for a nation that hadbarely tapped its western frontier. So that begs the question: Why did Monson and the other fruitpackers not encourage their workers to become U.S. Not surprisingly, the IRCA presents huge headaches for employers.First, the IRCA provides another disincentive for hiring employees, alongwith all of the other reporting requirements that hinder businesses. To someextent, yes. It means employers must be careful in checking such documents andcareful in filling out Form I-9. A complete Form I-9 and copies of the employee's documents (toshow just how good the counterfeit credentials were) will go a long waytowards a successful good-faith defense. What to do? Most of themhave been here so long that they would be lost in their former homeland.Almost all of the undocumented aliens had established roots in YakimaValley, with homes, families, and neighborhoods. Repeated violations could eventually result in a six-monthprison sentence and/or a permanent injunction. citizens or legalaliens? Form I-9 is a deceptive piece of paperwork, seemingly simple butactually quite complicated-and a potential trap for employers. "The Man Who Set the Nanny Trap." Washington Post (February 8, 1993): B1.Marinelli, Michael X. Thefruit packing companies had lobbied for a seasonal worker exemption, so nodoubt they understood the depth of their employment problems if they had torecruit only U.S. Second,some employers might conclude that the costs of the IRCA are simply toogreat and evade the law. The IRCA provides affirmative defenses for employers, centering onthe documents provided by the employee. may be a country of immigrants, but it has not always putout the welcome mat for newcomers. The costs ofsuch a program would have been minimal, especially in light of the coststhe company is paying now as it scrambles to hire workers. Tinkering continued in 1965, as President Johnson signed a lawthat made the reunification of families the primary focus of America'simmigration policy. Works CitedBednar, Steven C. So an employer cannot inquire about an applicant'slegal status until after the employer has decided to hire that person.This obviously might lead some employers to not consider people of certainbackgrounds for fear that the individual is an illegal alien. That blueprint was codified into law in 1986 when Congress passed, andPresident Reagan signed, the IRCA. "Employers Welcome New INS Policy but Remain Skeptical." Los Angeles Times (March 24, 1999): C1.Constable, Pamela. World War I fueled those sentiments, leading to immigration quotas in1917 and 1924, followed by another major piece of immigration legislationin 1952. Moreover, regardless ofan employee's legal status, all federal and state regulations still apply,including labor laws governing workplace safety and collective bargaining(Shuster 6 9). At the same time, illegal immigration from Latin America increaseddramatically as that region struggled with a massive debt crisis andvarious regional conflicts. The IRSrequires employers to file a W-2 form for every employee. "Employer Sanctions in the United States, Canada and Mexico: Exploring the Criminalization of Immigration Law." Southwestern Journal of Law and Trade in the Americas 3 (Fall 1996): 333-357.Murphy, Kim. to find work. This relieves employers of the burden of trying todetermine whether documents are forged or not. Labor shortages are on the horizon for an industry thatdoes not enjoy the seasonal worker exemption accorded to other elements ofAmerica's agricultural economy (Murphy A1). "INS' Fight on Illegal Labor Is Big Jolt to Yakima Valley." Los Angeles Times (February 24, 1999): A1.Nichols, Pamela D. That is because the explosion ofcounterfeit documents has rendered this point moot (Trejo and LaGesse 1A).So what does that mean for employers? At Monson FruitCompany, one woman who had worked there for more than 1 years foundherself out of a job when the INS determined that her documents had beenforged (Murphy A1). "The United States Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986: A Critical Perspective." Journal of International Law and Business 8 (Fall 1987): 5 3-524.Rojas, Aurelio. Indeed, many employers have calculated the highercosts of verifying legal status of every employee and/or only hiringAmerican citizens and decided it is more cost effective to simply flout theIRCA. The three-page form lists 29 different documents that can be used to prove legalstatus. citizen) for too many documents. Presumably theincentive for illegal aliens to seek employment in the U.S. Unlike past years, where the INS swooped in andarrested the workers only to have them return the next year, the agency hadthem fired this time (Murphy A1). Could Monson Fruit Company have avoided these problems? The IRCA did include anexception for "casual hires," which the INS defined as those who "providedomestic service in a private home that is sporadic, irregular orintermittent" (Marinelli 834). In other words, the employer must retain the Form I-9 (and supporting documents) until the employee leaves the company.Employers also must be very careful about filling out Form I-9 becausepaperwork mistakes, rather than undocumented employees, prompted most ofthe fines levied by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), atleast in the early years of the law's enforcement (Medina 341). The federal government, facedwith an increasing tide of illegal immigrants entering the United States,abandoned its front-end approach of trying to control America's borders.In its place, Congress crafted a back-end approach that required employersto verify the legal immigration status of all new employees. This paper will examine theIRCA and how American businesses have coped with the law. To address such concerns, Congress created anexception that permitted the employment of 35 , undocumented workers theannual harvest (Nichols 517-18). The INS audited the records of MonsonFruit Company and other fruit packers in that region and discovered 1,7 undocumented workers. By 1983, one poll found that 9 percent ofAmericans favored immigration reform (Simpson 147). The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), enacted in 1986,transformed American policy on immigration. These requirements, however, run headlong into other burdens imposedon businesses by the federal government. Just two percent of the agency's budget isdevoted to employer sanctions, and the INS did not bring its first criminalcase under the IRCA until 1995. A social security card is one of theacceptable forms of identification for proving one's legal status to workin this country. The IRCA, coupled with other federalregulations, forces employers to walk a tightrope. would decreaseas well. In the 197 s, the U.S. In this form, the employer attests that it hasexamined the employee's documents and that the employee is legally entitledto work in the U.S. "Border Guarded, Workplace Ignored." San Francisco Chronicle (March 18, 1996): A1.Shuster, Myrna A. Regardless, it simply makes goodbusiness sense to try to retain valued employees. Congressanticipated that possibility, so the IRCA includes an anti-discriminationprovision to prevent exactly that. That soon changed, not coincidentally as America's economic situationdeteriorated. Firstoffenses bring fines of $2 to $2, for each illegal alien employed.Second offenses can bring fines of $2, to $5, , and three-timeviolators could have to pay $3, to $1 , per undocumented alienemployed. Many had been with Monson for more than 1 years, so they mighthave qualified for citizenship or permanent legal status. According to the Department of Justice, the employermust dispense with the Form I-9 first. Failure to comply with the IRCA can result in steep penalties. The employer asked a prospectiveemployee (a U.S. "Undocumented Does Not Equal Unprotected." Case Western Reserve Law Review 39 (1989): 6 9-629.Simpson, Alan K. Thoseemployers who can legally use independent contractors will definitely doso, since independent contractors are not covered by the IRCA. From 1988 to 1995, the INS proposedlevying employer fines totaling $96.3 million-but collected only $38.3million. This form is required for every employee, and thoughthe employer does not have to keep a copy of the employee's supportingdocuments, prudence dictates retention of such records (the IRCA permitscopying of official credentials such as green cards). "The Immigration Reform and Control Act: Immigration Policy and the National Interest." University of Michigan Law Review 17 (Winter 1984): 147-164.Trejo, Frank and LaGesse, David. Many of them had beenwith Monson for years, providing a stable and well-trained workforce. Employers must have a completed I-9 formfor every employee, which the employer must produce upon demand from theINS. Another premise of the law that proved incorrect is the assumptionthat the fired workers would return to their home country. In 1998, the agency took similar action against meat packersin Nebraska, restaurant workers in Seattle, hotel workers in Florida, andlarge numbers of illegal workers in San Francisco. "Stunned, Scared and Saddened." Washington Post (February 11, 1996): B1.Doyle, Michael. Also factored into those costs is the low priority that the INSassigns to employer sanctions. Yet the IRS requires an employer to see thatcard. From 188 to 192 , demographic changesaltered the makeup of the immigrant population, as Southern and EasternEuropeans eclipsed Northern Europeans as the predominant immigrant group.During that period, many began to call for limitations on immigration andthe first substantial barriers were erected (Simpson 149). This case also illustrates a conclusion that many have reached: TheIRCA's employer sanctions have failed to limit illegal immigration.Moreover, this would have been the case even if the INS had sufficientresources to regulate employers. To address this perceived crisis, Senator Alan Simpson (Republicanfrom Wyoming) proposed a sweeping overhaul of America's immigration policyin 1984. Mylius. The pitfalls posed by the IRCA recently became apparent in YakimaValley in the state of Washington. Once that is complete, the employercan require the employee to show his or her social security card forpurposes of the W-2 (Bednar 184-86). "INS Enforcement of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986: Employer Sanctions During the Citation Period." Catholic University Law Review 37 (Spring 1988): 829-849.Medina, M. For example, anti-discriminationlaws bar employers from asking many questions about a prospectiveemployee's background. Employers whofailed to confirm that status or knowingly hired illegal aliens faced stifffines and even possible criminal punishment. The sweep continued the INS' recent policy of targeting specificindustries. "Efforts by INS to Levy Fines Falling Short." Sacramento Bee (October 5, 1996): A4.Grove, Lloyd. Acceptable forms ofproof include U.S. Northern Europeans were often welcomed,while Southern Europeans were frowned upon and racist attitudes promptedthe U.S. One immigration attorney called the form "absurd." A guidebookdesigned to help people fill out the form has grown from 8 pages whenintroduced to more than 4 pages today (Cleeland C1). The U.S. Moreover, if thecompanies cannot hire enough workers, imagine the costs they will pay inrotted fruit and insufficient production. Simpson proposed a three-prong approach involving employer sanctions(a method already in use in Canada, West Germany, and France), a workerverification system, and increased enforcement of existing immigrationlaws. Maybe even careful enough to participatein the INS' pilot program to check identification documents by phone.Beyond that, there are not many more precautions an employer can take. Theprevalence of good counterfeit documents means that some illegal alienswill slip through the cracks, but an employer can only do so much toascertain the legitimacy of immigration documents. Congress believed that sanctions would reducethe employers' incentive to hire illegal aliens, thereby cutting theavailability of employment for unauthorized aliens. citizen (Constable B1). They punch in the number on the papers todetermine if the number is valid and thus ascertain the legitimacy of theapplicant's documents. That was the thinking ofa café owner in Bethesda, Maryland, who sponsored his long-time cook tobecome a U.S. By the time the would-beworker returned with all of the materials, the company had been forced tofill the job with another person. Thatprovision tripped up one of President Clinton's cabinet nominees becauseshe had employed an undocumented alien (Grove B1). As a result, illegal aliens currently in the United States wouldbe encouraged to return home and those that might normally come would bediscouraged from leaving home (Marinelli 833-34). Admittedly, much of that reduction can be attributed topolitically connected firms appealing directly to members of Congress.Nonetheless, it reflects the INS' and the government's lukewarm commitmentto employer sanctions (Doyle A4). passports, green cards, work visas, or any one ofseveral other documents that establish the employee's right to work in theU.S. The law sought toeliminate that enticement. The law's premises proved to beincorrect, at least to date, and at least in Yakima Valley. That form issupposed to contain the employee's social security number as recorded fromthe employee's social security card. economy foundered and unemploymentsoared. The IRCA made it unlawful for anyemployer (whether an entity or an individual) to knowingly hire, recruit,or refer for a fee an undocumented alien (Nichols 511). For example, an employer who hiresan undocumented alien with counterfeit documents can mitigate or eliminateits penalty by showing a good-faith effort to confirm the worker's legalstatus. The company may not have known that many of its employeeswere illegal aliens, but it must have suspected. "A Border Backlash." Dallas Morning News (October 27, 1996): 1A. Under this program, employers take a job applicant's immigrationpapers and call an INS hotline. A California employer recently provided an example of what happenswhen a business falls off that tightrope. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

Many of our Papers can be Downloaded From This Site!

PLEASE READ THIS, IT IS IMPORTANT!

Office hours are Monday through Friday, from 9 am to 5 pm (PST). You may place orders for custom research over the phone during office hours. E-mail requests can be made to our graduate and undergraduate department any time, and will be reviewed during office hours. You may also contact customer service any time through e-mail, and we will review your message during business hours. A great many papers can be downloaded right from this site, but not all of them. If you would like to know if a particular paper is downloadable, just look in the description for: "Available for Internet Download: Y" or "Available for Internet Download: N" If you wish to purchase a paper which is NOT available for immediate download, you will need to make other shipping arrangements. Also, please be aware that these orders are processed Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm (PST). If you place your order after 4:45pm on Friday, it will not be processed until the following Monday morning. We charge $8 per page for all of our pre-written reports, plus shipping (and tax for California residents). However, the highest cost of any ONE report is $136, or 17 pages. Please, take a moment. Make sure you have chosen the report you want or need BEFORE you complete your order. If you are not sure, allow us to help you. We do not offer refunds or exchanges, so it is important for you to let us answer your questions during office hours. Reports which are e-mailed or downloaded are in Microsoft Word format. We are making more reports available for e-mail delivery faster than we can update our listings. Please call to check on the status of particular reports. There are many other shipping options which are listed on the Checkout page.