In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act was said by the Republicans to grant amnesty to those living in the US illegally, but this was more due to the sympathetic nature of Reagan's policies; pouring into the US were Cuban refugees, those who sympathized with the US from Communist countries, and Mexicans fleeing Central American unrest.
Reagan did not think these people were the dregs of society, and he knew that a solution was needed fast to fix the national problem. After the 1986 Act turned out to be a failure, America is realizing that it is even more critical now to address the issue. With new technology to help aid border security, there is no excuse for failure.
As governor of California, Reagan would have probably advocated bringing in foreign workers to help farms and the food industry in general. In 1977, he said that the Labor Department "has been making it harder and harder to bring in foreign labor (to harvest crops), insisting that the farmers hire unemployed Americans."
Ronald Reagan was a pioneer in immigration reform. The US now has the opportunity to build upon his foundation. In his words, "Trust, but verify."
Read the whole article on USAToday.com
