Immigration+Reform+and+Control+Act-+1986

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The **Immigration Reform and Control Act** (**IRCA**), Pub.L. 99-603, 100 Stat. 3359, enacted November 6, 1986, also **Simpson-Mazzoli Act**, is an Act of Congress which reformed United States immigration law. ======

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 ▪ required employers to attest to their employees' immigration status, and granted amnesty to certain illegal immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982 and had resided there continuously ======

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 ▪ made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit illegal immigrants (immigrants who do not possess lawful work authorization) ======

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 ▪ granted a path towards legalization to certain agricultural seasonal workers and immigrants who had been continuously and illegally present in the United States since January 1, 1986 ======

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 The law criminalized the act of knowingly hiring an illegal immigrant and established financial and other penalties for those employing illegal aliens under the theory that low prospects for employment would reduce illegal immigration. It introduced the I-9 form to ensure that all employees presented documentary proof of their legal eligibility to accept employment in the United States. ======

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 The weakness of this act is that These sanctions would only apply to employers that had more than three employees and that did not make a sufficient effort to determine the legal status of their workers. ======

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 An estimated 3 million illegals received amnesty under Reagan's program. A May 26, 2006 New York Times article arrives at the figure 2.8 million: 1.7 million under a general amnesty plus 90% of the 1.3 mil lion that applied under a special program for agricultural workers. ======

[|the actual government document of the act] [|the government idea about the act]