Immigration Law Failing, Study Finds

SAN DIEGO —  The landmark overhaul of U. S. immigration law enacted in 1986 has thus far failed to reverse the well-established pattern of illegal immigration from Mexico and is unlikely to achieve lawmakers’ stated goal of deterring undocumented migrants, an academic study here has found.

Those conclusions, reached by a group of researchers directed by the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at UC San Diego, contradict statements by U. S. immigration authorities and congressional aides, who assert that the law is working as designed.

The academicians, whose more than two-year study of the effects of the 1986 law is among the most systematic such reviews done nationwide, reported this week that Mexican migrants are continuing to flow northward, with or without documentation, and that many illegal aliens are using bogus paper work to secure jobs.

Jobs Still Available

Despite new legal sanctions against employers who hire illegal aliens, the study found that most Mexican migrants continue to find work in the United States and that few are returning to Mexico, which is believed to account for more than 90% of the illegal immigrants entering the United States.

“The 1986 immigration law has not shut off the flow of new undocumented immigrants from . . . Mexico,” said Wayne A. Cornelius, director of the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies and head of the study. “No viable alternative to migrating to the United States has developed in these communities, so they’re continuing to send people.”

Moreover, Cornelius, one of the leading U. S. experts on Mexico and immigration, said migrants are increasingly arriving from areas of Mexico relatively new to the migrant stream, such as Mexico City and the states of Mexico, Guerrero and Oaxaca. The development is an ominous one for U. S. policy-makers seeking to deter illegal immigration, Cornelius said, as it indicates that new migrant networks are being created at a time when authorities would like to seal off arrivals from traditional migrant areas.

The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, the most comprehensive reform of the nation’s immigration laws in more than three decades, was designed largely to reduce the flow of illegal aliens, mostly Mexicans, into the United States via the U.S.-Mexico border.

Cornelius and others have argued that the law will likely be ineffective as long as Mexico’s economy continues to deteriorate.

Officials Disputed Results

INS and congressional officials disputed the results of the study, asserting that the law was indeed deterring illegal immigration. Among other things, authorities noted that arrests of illegal aliens along the U. S.-Mexico border--long considered the best single indicator of undocumented immigration--have declined precipitously since passage of the new immigration law.

“We feel we’ve pushed back the tide” of illegal immigration, said Ron Rogers, an INS spokesman in Los Angeles.

U. S. authorities have attributed the decline in arrests at the border in part to the deterrent effect of the so-called “employer sanction” sections of the new law. Those provisions require that all employers check prospective workers’ documentation to determine that they are authorized to work in the United States.

The study found that a large number of Mexican illegal aliens--41% of those with jobs who were interviewed by the academicians--had resorted to using false or borrowed immigration documents to secure work, thus circumventing the law.

The decline in arrests at the border, Cornelius said, was more probably linked to the fact that more than 3 million formerly illegal residents have been granted legal status in the amnesty program and are now able to cross the border legally.

Congressional aides with two U. S. senators active in immigration matters, Republican Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming and Democrat Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, characterized the results of the San Diego study as premature, as it will take years to judge the new law’s true effectiveness.

The San Diego study involved a series of stages, including interviews with more than 300 Mexican immigrants, both documented and undocumented, working for 100 non-agricultural employers throughout Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area. Employers were also surveyed. It is estimated that half of all Mexican immigrants to this country are bound for California.

Researchers also traveled to Mexico and spoke with residents from towns in three states--Michoacan, Jalisco and Zacatecas--long identified with immigration to California.