Reform That Partly Backfired : The Immigration Law Needs Fixing--but Not Repealing

It’s now clear that the immigration reform law Congress passed in 1986 is causing discrimination against U.S. citizens who look or sound “foreign.” That’s not reason enough to repeal it, but it’s certainly cause for Congress to head back to the drawing board on immigration.

Congress’ General Accounting Office has issued a much-anticipated report on how the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act is working, and concluded that the new law is achieving its main purpose by discouraging business from hiring illegal immigrants. But government investigators also found “widespread discrimination” resulting from the law. The GAO report underscored the conclusion of other agencies that many employers are not hiring anyone they suspect of being foreign-born.

GAO did not try to determine why this pattern of discrimination exists--whether because employers want to avoid hassle or because some employers deliberately exclude foreign-born workers. But any discrimination is unacceptable, especially if it’s being encouraged by an official act of Congress. That’s why several members of Congress who voted for the 1986 law now say they want to reconsider it.

Reconsidering the IRCA won’t be easy. But there are enough knowledgeable people in Congress and among the various interest groups involved in the immigration issue to hammer out some revisions of the 1986 law without Capitol Hill grinding to a halt.

For a start, how about spending more to better educate employers about the new law? Some discrimination may result from simple ignorance. And Congress should simply order the Justice Department to crack down on any deliberate discrimination.

One thing Congress must not do is buy the idea promoted by some immigration restrictionists: that all legal U.S. workers should be issued work permits. In a time when the right to privacy is already invaded in so many subtle ways, most Americans simply won’t standfor a national identity card--and shouldn’t have to.

Some groups that never wanted the 1986 law enacted in the first place will now demand that it be repealed, but that’s overreacting, too. IRCA was not all bad. It allowed millions of illegal immigrants to begin legalizing their status and kept some would-be illegals from being exploited. Illegal immigration is such a complex historic phenomenon that no one law can control it, only regulate it slightly. That’s why IRCA shouldn’t be tossed out, just fine-tuned.