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Ronald Reagan signed a comprehensive immigration bill.

By Patrick Osio, Jr./HispanicVista.com

  February 15, 2008

 

 

Ronald Reagan signed a comprehensive immigration bill

By Patrick Osio

Who said, “One thing is certain in this hungry world: No regulation or law should be allowed if it results in crops rotting in the fields for lack of harvesters." And who said, “Are great numbers of our unemployed really victims of the illegal alien invasion, or are those illegal tourists actually doing work our own people won't do?” 

Ronald Reagan, that’s who.

Would Reagan today favor a 2000 mile fence across our US-Mexico border. For that we go back in time and find he said, "Some months before I declared (for the presidency), I asked for a meeting and crossed the border to meet with the president of Mexico. I did not go with a plan. I went, as I said in my announcement address, to ask him his ideas -- how we could make the border something other than a locale for a nine-foot fence."

What Republican nativist  wing calling themselves conservatives fear the most is that  party members are exposing them for what they are – extremist hiding under the mantle of conservative ideology.

They use the name of former President Ronald Reagan, a true conservative, as the father of their movement. This is not so, President Reagan was not an extremist, he was not a demagogue, he was not spiteful, divisive and most  assuredly, not a nativist even remotely associated with the political philosophies espoused by the likes of Tancredo,  Bilbray, Hunter, Sensenbrenner or for the most part.

Take note that the extreme Republican wing do not mention is that it was Ronald Reagan who signed the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. The reason for the silence is that these nativists have changed the name of the reform act to the “Amnesty Bill” in order to show how amnesty does not work, and that “one bad amnesty” is enough. They hope no one will bring up “if it was that bad, how come the father of conservative politics signed such a bill”

These nativists don’t want it out that President Reagan signed a comprehensive immigration bill. Or that it was special interest money that found its way into the political pockets of elected officials to ignore the two most important sections of the bill President Reagan signed.

The first section of the bill was the most important of the 3 and it was at the insistence of the White House that it be included against special business interest wishes and lobbying efforts.

The first section was that for the first time in the history of the nation, the hiring of undocumented immigrants became illegal. Without this section, President Reagan would not have approved the second section and thus not have signed the bill into law.

The second section was the “amnesty” but even this section had conditions that made it palatable to the White House. These included that those to be granted amnesty needed to prove they had continuously resided in the US for 5-years prior to the enactment of the bill; that they had no criminal record; that they had not received welfare; and that they were employed.

But more than that – the “amnesty” was probationary for a 5-year period. At the end of that time, those receiving amnesty had to demonstrate they had not in the period been convicted of serious crime(s); had not received welfare services; were employed and had to pass a test in English before receiving Permanent Residency status. For those who qualified they would then wait another 5-years before being allowed to file for citizenship. The Act made those who qualified wait 10 years, plus the years already here, before applying for citizenship and only if the other requirements had been met.

In reviewing – without making the hiring of undocumented workers illegal, President Reagan would not have signed the bill. Without putting strict conditions on those seeking amnesty before getting permanent residency status, President Reagan would not have signed the bill.

And the kicker to the Act – the third section. Ronald Reagan recognized there was a need for workers in some sectors particularly in agriculture, as he said, “No regulation or law should be allowed if it results in crops rotting in the fields for lack of harvesters." So the third section was the H-2A Temporary Worker Agricultural Visa.

This section updated the already existing since 1964, H-2 visa allowing temporary migrant farm workers to enter and work for a nine month period of the year during the planting and harvesting seasons.

The changes that were insisted the new version contain, included: the farms had to advertise for and register with local state unemployment agencies job openings; the wages offered had to be the same for guest workers as they would be for local workers; transportation to work fields had to be provided; if the work was in rural areas, temporary housing had to be provided.

On compliance with the above and submitting a non-able to find local work certificate to the Department of Labor, the DOL would certify the need and number of workers needed, which in turn the then INS would provide the farm with the number of visas needed. The farm or farm association would then contract in Mexico the workers.

Whenever the then INS would attempt to enforce either the first or third section, member of Congress would come to the defense of those hiring undocumented workers or not using the H-2A to legally bring in temporary non-immigrant workers.

President Reagan did not foresee the political hypocrisy and scandalous moral corruption of members of his own and the Democratic parties.

And that is what had led the nation to the present situation. And the hypocrisy continues, and nativists elected and non elected, now clamor for fences.

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Patrick Osio, Jr is the editor of HispanicVista.com (http://www.hispanicvista.com).  Contact at: PosioJr@hispanicvista.com

(The opinions expressed by Patrick Osio, Jr. are solely his and do not necessarily reflect those of HispanicVista.com, editorial board of advisors or it’s contributing writers.)

 

Patrick Osio, Jr. has written a short but intensive manual on the Mexican perspective on numerous issues between our two countries. The manual is an in depth primer on the culture and protocol for better understanding Mexicans that in turn allows establishing personal and business relationships, and how to avoid the most common faux pas that can ruin relationships and business deals.

The manual is available through Electronic delivery for $9.95 making it possible to download the manual for save on your hard drive, printing its entirety or particular sections while reaping considerable savings over printed copies.