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By the 1980s, the United States was seeing

employers to run background checks with the

a strong flow of immigrants from Mexico and

government on new or existing employees to

Central America. This paralleled earlier flows

see whether they are eligible to work under the

from Germany, Ireland, Italy, and elsewhere,

immigration laws.

but these immigrants could enter through

A full-fledged EEV system has many prac-

uncontrolled parts of a land border without

tical and technical problems, to say nothing

documentation. In 1986 Congress determined

of the question of whether it is appropriate

that illegal immigration rates were too high,

for a free country. But the human forces that

but in passing the Immigration Reform and

a policy would channel or counteract are the

Control Act,8 Congress failed to recognize

most important influences on how the sup-

porting technical system must be designed.

either the power of the economic forces under-

Those forces determine where the challenges

lying such immigration or its benefits.

the system will come from and what the

While legalizing the illegal aliens in the

human and monetary costs will be if it is to

country, Congress declined to expand legal

work for its intended purpose. Immigration

channels for immigration. Instead, it changed

law--today deeply at odds with Americans'

the long-standing natural rule that working in

interests--is the source of the problem and

the United States depended simply on willing-

the starting point for analysis.

ness and ability. Americans' right to earn an

honest living by trading their labor would now

America's Original Open Borders Close

have to wait for proof of compliance with fed-

At the time of the founding and during the

eral immigration laws.

early part of U.S. history, the country's immi-

gration policy was one of open borders. Nat-

"Internal Enforcement" and "Basic

uralization rules fluctuated, and the law

Pilot"

authorized the president to expel dangerous

IRCA made unlawful the knowing hire of

foreign nationals, but immigrants were wel-

workers who are not eligible to work in the

United States under the immigration laws.9

come.

Indeed, in 1864, because of a labor short-

By requiring employers to check employees'

age caused by the Civil War, Congress passed

documentation, the law conscripted employ-

legislation to encourage immigration. It

ers into immigration law enforcement. All

allowed enforcement in U.S. courts of the

employers today are required to verify

agreements immigrants had made in their

employees' work eligibility by collecting com-

home countries to repay their travel costs

pleted I-9 forms and by checking employees'

documentation.10

from wages earned in America. The law also

established a federal government office in

The logic behind this idea was simple:

New York City to help immigrants reach their

making it illegal to hire an illegal immigrant

Americans' right

interior U.S. destinations.7

could reduce the strength of this country's

to earn an honest

economic "magnet." But the policy of "inter-

In 1875 Congress passed the first law to

nal enforcement" built on this simple logic

exclude people, aimed at convicts and prosti-

living by trading

failed. Just as a magnet's attraction passes

tutes. The practice of exclusion was promptly

their labor would

through paper, the attraction of the United

adapted to racial and ethnic prejudice by 1882's

States to immigrants surpasses this paper-

Chinese Exclusion Acts, and, in the 1920s, a

now have to

work.

national-origin quota system greatly restricted

wait for proof

The I-9 process and employer sanctions

immigration from countries outside northern

of compliance

undoubtedly had some effect on illegal immi-

and western Europe. National-origin quotas

gration and working, but not very much.

persisted until 1965 when the Immigration and

with federal

Between 1986 and 1996, illegal immigration

Nationality Act Amendments initiated a seven-

immigration

rates appear to have remained steady.11 Docu-

category system for family reunification and

employment-based categories.

ment fraud undermined the I-9 system, and

laws.

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