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Contribution to Book
Immigration and Agriculture in the 1990s
Immigration Reform and U.S. Agriculture
  • Wallace E. Huffman, Iowa State University
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
1-1-1995
Editors
Philip L. Martin, Wallace Huffman, Robert Emerson, J. Edward Taylor and Refugio I. Rochin
Publisher
University of California-Davis, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Publications
Place of Publication
Oakland, CA
Abstract

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (!RCA) contained provisions having the intent of changing the supply and demand for labor in the United States and alleviating many social problems associated with earlier illegal immigration. Many of the proponents of IRCA were optimistic in the mid-1980s about how IRCA would slow illegal immigration. Issues of fairness to workers had been addressed by legalizing individuals who had a history of working as undocumented workers in U.S. agriculture and the rest of the economy; needs for a short-term guaranteed supply of seasonal agricultural service workers to agriculture had been taken care of in new SAW (Special Agricultural Worker) and RAW (Replenishment Agricultural Worker) programs; penalties for U.S. employers who hired undocumented workers were imposed; and the INS was supposed to tighten border controls and greatly reduce illegal immigration rates. In the mid-1980s, some believed that IRCA would permanently solve the problems associated with illegal immigration to the United States.

Comments

This chapter is from Immigration Reform and U.S. Agriculture (1995): 425. Posted with permission.

Rights
Free, downloadable publications may be reproduced and distributed pursuant to the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License Copyright. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Copyright Owner
Regents of the University of California
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Wallace E. Huffman. "Immigration and Agriculture in the 1990s" Immigration Reform and U.S. Agriculture (1995) p. 425 - 442
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/wallace-huffman/125/