A History of Amnesty

[Jeanfromfillmore]

A History of Amnesty
Proponents of another new amnesty for illegal aliens fail to acknowledge the history and net effect of previous amnesties. Many Americans believe that there has been only one prior amnesty, the Immigration and Reform Control Act (IRCA) of 1986. In fact, including IRCA, there have been seven amnesties since that time, using the misnomers of “reform” or “adjustments.” These additional amnesties have had the ultimate effect of naturalizing millions of individuals who knowingly entered the United States illegally.

Since IRCA was enacted, some 5.7 million more people have been granted amnesty and the opportunity to become citizens. But now there are at least four or five times that many people illegally in the United States. Through all these amnesties, many more foreign nationals were amnestied than had been estimated. IRCA was expected to cover some 1 million illegal aliens.

The seven amnesties that have been passed by Congress:
1. Immigration and Reform Control Act (IRCA), 1986.
A blanket amnesty for some 2.7 million illegal aliens

2. Section 245(i) Amnesty, 1994.
A temporary rolling amnesty for 578,000 illegal aliens

3. Section 245(i) Extension Amnesty, 1997.
An extension of the rolling amnesty created in 1994

Note: The numbers for section 245(i) are not broken out for 1994 and 1997

4. Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) Amnesty, 1997.
An amnesty for close to 1 million illegal aliens from Central America

5. Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act Amnesty (HRIFA), 1998.
An amnesty for 125,000 illegal aliens from Haiti

6. Late Amnesty, 2000.
An amnesty for some illegal aliens who claim they should have been amnestied under the 1986 IRCA amnesty, an estimated 400,000 illegal aliens

7. LIFE Act Amnesty, 2000.
A reinstatement of the rolling Section 245(i) amnesty, an estimated 900,000 illegal aliens
When IRCA was passed by Congress, it was with the strict understanding that it would be a onetime- only forgiveness followed by strict border and active workplace enforcement. The list of amnesties post-IRCA shows that rather than leading to a tightening of immigration policy and enforcement, IRCA became a powerful lure for more illegal entry. Since IRCA led to an amnesty for three times as many people as were estimated beforehand, the U.S. might now be looking at offering naturalization to some 30 million people.
Teddy Roosevelt, the visionary for public trust lands, wouldn’t have predicted that large swaths of national parks would be taken over by Mexican gangs and illegal alien workers using sophisticated production methods to grow marijuana.

Law enforcement officials say land in the Sequoia National Forest and in the national parks in Redwood, Sequoia and Yosemite, as well as other public lands in states such as Colorado and Idaho, have become illegal marijuana growing zones yielding billions of drug dollars for Mexican traffickers.According to an AP report, “Many of the plots are encircled with crude explosives and are patrolled by guards armed with AK-47s who survey the perimeter from the ground and from perches high in the trees.”

Easy targets for traffickers, the public lands offer remoteness, vastness and thick forest cover. These attributes that give criminals their growing advantage are just what hamper government agents who battle this assault on America’s natural treasures. Agents also lack staff to cover these huge areas.

One law officer likened the marijuana market share grab by Mexican traffickers to that of another drug market. “Just like the Mexicans took over the methamphetamine trade, they’ve gone to mega, monster gardens,” he said.

Growing illicit drugs in the U.S. makes distribution for drug dealers less risky and Mexican gangs can operate closer to their markets. Besides appropriating lands that belong to the American public, the growers abuse them. They leave behind trash, poach deer and birds, cut down trees, dam creeks and often use animal poisons and fertilizers that pollute streams and groundwater.

Fire is part of their arsenal too. The August 2009 La Brea wildfire that burned through 89,000 acres of California’s Los Padres National Forest was started by the cooking fire of marijuana growers, who the Forest Service believed were part of a Mexican drug operation.

Of the estimated $13.8 billion in income by drug cartels in 2006, nearly $9 billion came from marijuana sales, according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.