[kabar]

I never said it wasn't. I said that Reagan called it "legalization", not amnesty as you posted. And yes, it was meant to be a one time deal.

Legalization is amnesty. It is a distinction without a difference in much the same way that people use "undocumented worker" to describe an illegal alien. Ed Meese is the one who said that their administration admitted it was an amnesty, not me. Reagan, in his signing statement said the following":

" We have consistently supported a legalization program which is both generous to the alien and fair to the countless thousands of people throughout the world who seek legally to come to America. The legalization provisions in this act will go far to improve the lives of a class of individuals who now must hide in the shadows, without access to many of the benefits of a free and open society. Very soon many of these men and women will be able to step into the sunlight and, ultimately, if they choose, they may become Americans."

BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY 93 (8th ed. 2004) (defining the term “amnesty” using IRCA as the quintessential example).

Reagan never envisioned the IRCA of 1986 as a blanket amnesty. Period.

But it was a blanket amnesty in much the same way that Hagel-Martinez and McCain-Kennedy were. I have read and compared all three. In 1986 you had to be here five years, learn English, etc. In fact much of the language in the other amnesty bills were lifted verbatim from the "Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986". "8 USC 1101 note"

[Reagan Man]

>>>>>Legalization is amnesty.

That is not the issue. You and I covered all this before, several times. You're argument remains specious.

The real issue is that Fat Teddy and the new Democrat controlled Senate gutted the border enforcement and employer sanction provisions of the 1986 IRCA, not Reagan! If the GOP had held onto the Senate, those provisions would have been properly funded and implemented, and today we wouldn't have the serious problems with 15 million illegals stealing from the US taxpayers.

The IRCA of 1986 was not a blanket amnesty and Reagan did not support a blanket amnesty. The legalization/amnesty provision was for 300K illegals, not 2.7 million and was the compromise Reagan made to get tougher border enforcement and stricter employer sanctions for the long term. At least that is what he believed.

"Future generations of Americans will be thankful for our efforts to humanely regain control of our borders and thereby preserve the value of one of the most sacred possessions of our people: American citizenship." The Reagan Presidential Library : Remarks on Signing the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 : November 6, 1986

If anyone deserves blame for the failure of the IRCA of 1986, its Senator Kennedy and the Democrat Senate majority. Not President Reagan. Also, Ed Meese has publicly stated, Reagan would not have make the same mistake again. Reagan would never have supported the McCain-Kennedy comprehensive immigration reform act, or any of its subsequent offshoots.