Immigration Shaping America - Population Reference Bureau

although their workers were subject
to arrest and deportation in INS
raids.
The rising number of unauthorized
or illegal Mexican workers
prompted Congress to enact the
Immigration Reform and Control Act
of 1986 (IRCA), which prescribed
penalties on U.S. employers who
knowingly hired unauthorized workers.
It also legalized the presence of
2.7 million unauthorized foreigners in
the United States; 85 percent of the
legalized workers were from Mexico.
But IRCA did little to discourage
illegal immigration. Enforcement was
underfunded and ineffective, and
fraudulent documents were widely
used by workers. Migration networks
between the United States and Mexico
were strengthened by the legalization
of workers and family members.
In effect, the United States put up a
“keep out” sign at the border, but
unauthorized foreigners inside the
United States were free to respond to
“help wanted” signs.
During the 1980s and 1990s, legal
and illegal migration helped increase
the number of Mexican-born U.S.
residents from 2.2 million in 1980
to 4.5 million in 1990, 9.0 million in
2000, and almost 10 million in 2002.
Mexico’s total population was 100
million in 2000—meaning that the
equivalent of 9 percent of the Mexican
population had moved to the
United States. Hundreds of thousands
more Mexicans are on waiting
lists for immigrant visas. There have
been two responses to this emigration
pressure: the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and
stepped-up border controls.
NAFTA is a trade and investment
agreement between Canada, Mexico,
and the United States that permanently
lowered barriers to the flow of
goods and money. It was designed to
accelerate economic and job growth
in all three countries, as the theory of
comparative advantage predicts. 58
Mexico proposed NAFTA as a way to
solve the country’s debt crisis and
restore economic and job growth.
Mexico had borrowed heavily in the
Photo removed for copyright reasons.
The U.S. government has strengthened border patrols to curb illegal immigration
and more recently to combat terrorism, yet immigrant smuggling
continues to thrive.
early 1980s in the expectation that the
price for Mexican oil would remain
high. When oil prices fell, Mexico suffered
a recession and mounting debts.
Many people in the United States
opposed NAFTA, fearing a rush of
U.S. jobs flowing to Mexico. With
bipartisan support, Congress narrowly
approved NAFTA. One of the hopedfor
side effects was reduced Mexico-
U.S. migration.
After NAFTA went into effect on
Jan. 1, 1994, some Americans thought
that migration from Mexico would
quickly stop. Instead, it continued,
and included so-called banzai runs in
which Mexican smugglers massed
groups of 50 to 80 migrants on the
Mexican side of the port of entry at
San Diego and directed them to run
across the border through the southbound
lanes of traffic into the United
States. California Governor Pete Wilson,
who maintained that providing
services to unauthorized foreigners
accounted for 10 percent of state
spending in the early 1990s, used
footage of these banzai runs in TV ads
to win re-election and build support
for Proposition 187, the never-implemented
state law meant to prevent
unauthorized foreigners from obtaining
state-funded services.
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