PROPOSED IMMIGRATION POLICY REFORM & FARM LABOR MARKET OUTCOMES

PROPOSED IMMIGRATION POLICY REFORM & FARM LABOR MARKET
OUTCOMESⁱ

Overview

Immigration reform has generated much political debate in recent years. The last
substantial revision of immigration law occurred in 1986 with the passage of the Immigration
Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which authorized several policy instruments to discourage
illegal immigration and employment. In the twenty years since however, it is apparent that
IRCA has failed in its stated objectives for not only has illegal immigration increased
significantly, but unauthorized immigrants have continued to gain employment in the U.S.
particularly in the low-skilled, low-wage sectors of the economy (Passel, 2005; Passel and Suro,
2005; Passel, 2006; Mines, Gabbard and Steirman, 1997; Carroll et al. 2005).

The political debate began in earnest with the passage of two earlier proposals in the
109^th US Congress. Legislative proposal H.R. 4437 (the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and
Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005) was passed by the US House of Representatives in
December 2005. It is arguably one of the more restrictive proposals introduced for consideration
in the 109^th Congress in that it contained no provisions for legalization of unauthorized workers
or for a guest worker program. H.R. 4437 emphasized a pro-enforcement stance on immigration
reform; it advocated criminal penalties for unauthorized immigrants and significant fines for the
U.S. employers who would hire them. The proposal also argued for I-9 document reform and for
increased worksite/interior/border enforcement, but made no mention of modifications to
existing laws on legal immigration.

In contrast, S. 2611 (the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006) passed by the
U.S. Senate in May 2006 proposed earned legalization for unauthorized immigrants and

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