White House Staffer Tried to Undermine Enforcement in '86 Amnesty

WASHINGTON, May 9, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- History shows us that for the most part, advocates of "comprehensive" immigration bills are only after the legalization portion and will do everything in their power to undermine the enforcement provisions as soon as the bill becomes law. A report published only a few years after passage of the 1986's Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) proves this. The amnesty had only started to roll out, and yet La Raza produced a report calling for an end to workplace enforcement — the central enforcement provision of IRCA. The Center for Immigration Studies reminds supporters of enforcement that the author of the La Raza report was Cecilia Munoz, currently the Obama administration's chief immigration advisor. (Munoz was recently profiled in the New York Times).

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In the report, "Unfinished Business: The Immigration Reform & Control Act of 1986," Munoz (then, a Senior Policy Analyst for La Raza) wrote that "Congress should repeal employer sanctions" and that Congress has a "moral obligation" to do so. She argued that workplace enforcement is "uneven and inconsistent" and "inherently discriminatory". The full La Raza report is available at: http://cis.org/sites/cis.org/files/articles/2013/NCLR.pdf  

Interestingly, in her report Munoz admits that mass legalization programs lead to increases in illegal immigration. She wrote:

"[The National Council of La Raza] estimates that the size of the undocumented population today [1990], perhaps three to four million persons, equals that of the early 1980s, when the debate over IRCA took place. ... In the wake of this 'one-time only' program, the nation appears to be left with at least as many undocumented people as when it first considered these proposals."

Munoz called for yet another amnesty in this report — only four years after IRCA —  to legalize the newly arrived illegal aliens. The Schumer-Rubio proposal is reportedly already encouraging illegal immigration, despite the fact that the bill would not offer amnesty to aliens arriving after December 31, 2011. It is likely that this new wave of illegal immigration will result in calls for additional amnesties in the future. If Munoz's past is any guide, it is likely that the bill's workplace enforcement provisions would be put on the back burner the moment it is signed into law.

"The Obama administration's track record on immigration coupled with an apparent lack of support for critical provisions in the Schumer-Rubio bill necessitates that legalization is conditioned on all enforcement provisions being up and running and fully litigated," said Jon Feere, Legal Policy Analyst for the Center for Immigration Studies. "Only until after E-Verify is in place, the border secured, and an Exit system fully functioning should the discussion on what to do with 11 million illegal immigrants begin."

MORE at: www.cis.org/feere/white-house-immigration-chief-tried-undermine-enforcement-86-amnesty

View the Senate bill, CIS Senate testimony and commentary at: http://cis.org/Border-Security-Economic-Opportunity-Immigration-Modernization-Act

The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit research organization. Since its founding in 1985, the Center has pursued a single mission – providing immigration policymakers, the academic community, news media, and concerned citizens with reliable information about the social, economic, environmental, security, and fiscal consequences of legal and illegal immigration into the United States.

Contact: Marguerite Telford
[email protected], 202-466-8185

SOURCE Center for Immigration Studies