H.Res. 326 — Introduced in House

IV 113th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 326 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES August 2, 2013 Mr. Broun of Georgia submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that any immigration reform proposal adopted by Congress should not legalize, grant amnesty for, or confer any other legal status condoning the otherwise unlawful entry or presence in the United States of any individual. Whereas on November 6, 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 was signed into law; Whereas between 1987 and 1988, nearly 2,700,000 illegal immigrants received legal status under the 1986 IRCA amnesty before being granted lawful permanent residence by 1992; Whereas IRCA was touted by its sponsors as the three-legged stool approach to immigration reform incorporating improved border security and employment enforcement, a H–2A temporary worker program, and legal status for certain eligible groups; Whereas IRCA contained provisions to inhibit future illegal immigration by penalizing employers who knowingly hire an unauthorized immigrant; Whereas despite these penalties, a policy brief by the Migration Policy Institute dated August 2005 showed that over 90 percent of unauthorized males in the United States were employed; Whereas IRCA included language to increase Border Personnel by 50 percent; Whereas then-Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Commissioner Alan C. Nelson announced the law’s initial success in a 1989 House Judiciary Committee hearing, citing the shrinking number of apprehensions at the border, as signal to demonstrate that the law is working and employer sanctions are having the intended effect of reducing illegal immigration; Whereas illegal immigration actually increased in volume and frequency by 1989, with 1,700,000 to 2,500,000 unauthorized immigrants crossing into the United States from Mexico that year; Whereas the number of illegal aliens grew to 3,400,000 by the early 1990s, and by 1997 the approximate unauthorized population totaled more than 5,000,000, the same number of illegal immigrants as before the 1986 law took effect; and Whereas an estimated 11,500,000 million illegal aliens currently reside in the United States: Now, therefore, be it That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that any immigration reform proposal adopted by Congress should not legalize, grant amnesty for, or confer any other legal status condoning the otherwise unlawful entry or presence in the United States of any individual.