Against All Odds

By Richard Lacayo.

"There never will be a perfect bill, any more than there are perfect children, perfect marriages or perfect crimes." So said Republican Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming last week about the Immigration Reform Act of 1986, a measure that he co-sponsored. Few of Simpson's colleagues would disagree with that assessment, which is one reason why the bill has languished in Congress for years. Yet last week, less than a month after the measure had been given up for dead for another year, Congress passed the most far-reaching change in the nation's immigration laws in two decades.

Under the bill's most controversial provision, employers will be subject to fines of from $250 to $10,000 for each illegal alien they hire; they will also be responsible for checking the birth certificates or passports of prospective workers. The new law grants amnesty to illegal aliens who can show that they entered the country before Jan. 1, 1982, and have lived here continuously since then, a provision that may benefit as many as 8 million people. Congress provided $4 billion to states to help defray increased costs for schools and social services used by newly legalized aliens.

The chief elements of the bill have been floating around Capitol Hill since 1982. But pressure for action did not crest until this year, when the deteriorating Mexican economy increased the already heavy flow of illegal aliens across the Rio Grande. U.S. border patrols are expected to apprehend some 1.8 million illegal aliens this year, 500,000 more than in 1985. By some estimates, for every person caught, another will get through. Meanwhile, public outcries against terrorism and drug traffic translated into a fear of open borders to the south. "It was a combination of things," said Representative Leon Panetta, a Democrat from California who helped craft the final compromise. "There was clearly a backlash throughout the country on the whole immigration issue." Attempts at compromise bogged down over provisions to benefit fruit and vegetable growers, who largely rely on illegal aliens for their work forces. Conservatives also balked at the amnesty provision, while many Hispanic leaders feared that the employer fines would make businessmen wary of hiring legally resident aliens and citizens of Hispanic descent.

Two weeks ago, when all appeared lost, Brooklyn Democratic Congressman Charles Schumer made a final attempt to save the bill. He met with Simpson, Democratic Congressman Peter Rodino of New Jersey, who sponsored the House version, and Republican Congressman Dan Lungren of California. Together they produced a compromise called the "California provision," which extended the amnesty to illegal aliens who harvested perishable fruits and vegetables for 90 days or longer between May 1985 and May 1986. Says Schumer: "It would have been abhorrent to let the whole bill go down over this problem."

The President, who has been pressing for immigration reform, is expected to sign the bill. Then comes the hard part, enforcing the new law. "Nobody can say it's going to work," confessed Panetta. "But one thing is clear. The present situation is intolerable."

With reporting by Michael Duffy/Washington