“I supported this bill. I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and have lived here even though some time back they may have entered illegally,” ... “I’m going to do everything I can -- and all of us in the administration are -- to join in again when Congress is back at it to get an immigration bill that will give us once again control of our borders.”
-- Ronald Reagan said in a 1984 debate against Walter Mondale.
[...]
In 1984, Congress had just killed an immigration bill that would have legalized up to six million unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. President Ronald Reagan was one of its most prominent backers.
[...]
The bill, which finally passed in 1986, provided for three main reforms: legalizing the millions of immigrants already in the country, increasing border enforcement, and penalties for employers who hired unauthorized workers in order to stop the flow of new illegal immigrants.
Who knew? Certainly not the out-for-blood
ransom ranters in the GOP.
Well NPR knew -- and they say that this 1986 Immigration Law, which was championed by the Missing Mt. Rushmore President, DID manage to accomplish the following:
[...]
The law granted amnesty to nearly 3 million illegal immigrants, yet was largely considered unsuccessful because the strict sanctions on employers were stripped out of the bill for passage.
[Wyoming Sen. Alan] Simpson says the amnesty provision actually saved the act from being a total loss. "It's not perfect, but 2.9 million people came forward. If you can bring one person out of an exploited relationship, that's good enough for me."
No small feat, given the xenophobic-vitriol of the times.
Same as it ever was.
Here's somebody else "who knew" ... that "the President" took such extraordinary actions ...
What would Ronald Reagan say about Obama's immigration order today? How about 'Good move'?
by Meteor Blades -- Jun 15, 2012
[...]
That's the same spirit found among hundreds of thousands of young people in the United States today. Brought here by their parents in some cases before they were even old enough to be called toddlers, they are, in every respect save one, Americans. They have obviously "put down roots" here. Deporting them to the countries of their birth—places where many of them don't speak the language or understand the culture and often have no affinity for at all—is profoundly cruel punishment, penalized for a crime they didn't commit by the government of the country that is their home.
But, as Republicans have proved by opposing the DREAM Act, they are perfectly willing to thumb their nose at Reagan when it suits their purpose.
Apparently the only ones
who don't know their
presidential immigration history -- are the same ideologues who would put the image of their "one true hero," on every milk carton in the land, if only the people would listen to him,
and start to follow his conservative example!
OK then GOP history-restorers -- as you wish.
Let's just ask ourselves, when it comes to Immigration ... What Would Ronald Reagan Do?