Main Features of Conference Pact on Immigration Reform

Employer sanctions: Employers for the first time would be barred from knowingly hiring illegal aliens. The prohibition would cover everyone from homeowners who hire maids and gardeners to large factories and farms. Employers would not be penalized for keeping their current undocumented workers on the payroll but could be punished for new hirings.

After an 18-month phase-in period that begins when the bill is signed, employers would be subject to fines of $250 to $2,000 per worker for the first offense, $2,000 to $5,000 for the second offense, $3,000 to $10,000 for the third offense and a minimum of $3,000 and a jail term of up to six months for habitual offenders. (The courts will decide when an employer is a habitual offender.) The sanctions would remain in effect permanently unless the General Accounting Office, in a report to be issued three years into the program, determines that they have resulted in job discrimination against Latinos or other ethnic groups.

Worker identification: Before hiring a worker, employers would be required to see a Social Security card, driver’s license, birth certificate or other document showing legal residency. Employers could face fines if they failed to keep records of their verification procedures.

Amnesty: Illegal aliens who can prove they have resided continuously in the United States since Jan. 1, 1982, would become eligible for legal residency and eventual citizenship. But those who fail to register for residency within 18 months of the bill becoming law would lose that right and would face expulsion.

Agricultural workers: More liberal legalization rules would be available for aliens working in agriculture. Alien farm workers could become temporary residents by demonstrating as little as 90 days of field work during the 12-month period ending May 1, 1986, and could upgrade to permanent resident status in as little as four years. Field hands who worked in agriculture for 90 days in each of the three previous years could become permanent residents in only three years. Once an alien achieved temporary residency, he would not be restricted to farm jobs. If the government determines that enough workers have left the fields to create a labor shortage, farmers and growers will be able to bring in alien replacements beginning at the end of 1990. Those workers could also qualify for legalization and eventual citizenship. Worker imports would end in 1993.

Deportation: Expelling of illegal aliens apprehended away from border areas would be curtailed for 18 months while authorities put the amnesty program into effect.

Welfare benefits: Newly legalized aliens would be barred from receiving most federally funded welfare benefits for five years.

Field searches: Federal agents would be required to obtain search warrants before raiding fields to check for illegal farm workers. Currently, immigration agents need warrants to raid factories and other businesses, but not fields.

Federal aid: The government would guarantee state and local governments at least $4 billion through 1994 to compensate them for the increased welfare and educational costs caused by legalization.

Enforcement: The bill authorizes more than $400 million in each of the next two years to set up operations to expedite legalization processing.

Employment discrimination: Employers would be barred from discriminating against a job applicant because he is a foreigner.