Migration, Remittances, And Small Business Development

"The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) was a manifestation

of widespread public concern over the volume of undocumented

immigration into the United States. The principal innovation of this

legislation-the provision to impose penalties on employers who knowingly

hire undocumented immigrants-was a response to this concern.

This effort at restriction was tempered in IRCA by other provisions

permitting the legalization of two types of undocumented immigrantsthose

who had resided in the United States since January 1, 1982; and

what were called special agricultural workers (SAWs), persons who had

worked in perishable crop agriculture for at least 90 days during specified

periods from 1983 to 1986. Approximately 3.1 million persons sought

legalization (what is popularly referred to as amnesty) under these two

provisions. The breakdown was roughly 1.8 million under the regular

program and 1.3 million as SAWs. Mexicans made up 75 percent of the

combined legalization requests."