Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 1996
IIRIRA was passed in the wake of an increase in unfavorable immigrant sentiment, a time when 63% of Americans believed that immigrants were a burden because they took jobs, housing, and health care. This belief was centered around the idea that undocumented immigrants should not have access to social services, from basic health care to education. Many Americans incorrectly assumed that undocumented immigrants do not pay taxes yet they had access social services that were funded by American tax dollars. Members of Congress believed that with the passage of IIRIRA the undocumented immigrant population would dramatically decrease. Ironically, the complete opposite occurred. Instead of lowering the number of undocumented immigrants, the undocumented immigrant population doubled in the past 20 years, from around 5 million before IIRIRA to about 10-12 million today. Why was IIRIRA such a failure?
Much of IIRIRA’s inability to lower the undocumented immigrant number in the U.S is because of its focus on punishing undocumented immigrants for their “crime” of entering the U.S. illegally. Instead of turning undocumented immigrants into productive, documented citizens, the harsh penalties laid out within IIRIRA intended to deter immigrants from coming to the U.S. and remaining here. This may seem like a good idea, but for those people who already resided in the US, those who had already had made their lives here, attended school here, married US citizens and have US citizen children or other family members, it is not realistic. The Act provided no pathway for those people to gain documented status. Instead, it made it so that people already in the U.S illegally had more difficulty acquiring legal status.
IIRIRA decreed that immigrants who entered the US unlawfully were ineligible to seek legal status in the U.S. even if they married US citizens.. They would have to leave the country to acquire status and in some instances, wait outside the country for many months or even years, while their documents were processing. For someone married with children born in the US, the financial and emotional burden on the US citizen spouse and children was significant and often not worth the hardship such measures would cause. The Act barred people from returning to the U.S for three years (if you resided unlawfully in the U.S for six months to one year) or for ten years(if you were unlawfully present in the U.S for more than a year). The U.S was effectively separating families for long periods without good cause. IIRIRA also expanded the number of crimes that made a person immediately deportable with no hope for return no matter what the family’s circumstances. Crimes such as alien smuggling (bringing or paying to bring a family member to the US) became grounds for never being able to get legal status. This law borders on the absurd when you consider that bringing your little brother with you to the US would result in a permanent bar to eligibility whereas getting drunk and committing vehicular homicide would not necessarily. The draconian terms of the IIRIRA have resulted in unfair treatment of certain immigrants over the course of the past 25 years. It is time for reform. It is time to recognize that many immigrants in our community have contributed significantly to our well being and our nation. They are our neighbors. They work, play, have families and honor our country just as we do. They deserve to be treated as full members of our community and respected as full citizens. It is in our best interest to treat our neighbors this way, as they will thrive and contribute to a greater extent when lifted from the burden of never knowing where they stand, their fear of removal and of being the victims of injustice towards them. Their children will suffer less from the anxiety caused by the insecurity of their parents living perpetually in a limbo legal status, their wives uncertain whether undocumented husbands will be able to amply provide for them. It is not right to treat our own citizens in this way, and it is not helpful to the general good.
DISCLAIMER: This Article is for informational purposes only and may not be used in the place of legal advice.