Successes, troubles follow '86 amnesty
When he was only 11, Ignacio Cortez illegally crossed the border from Mexico, following his brothers and sisters in search of factory work.
More than 30 years later, he's taught himself English, opened a successful business, raised a family and refurbished a home.
"Everything I am, everything I have, is the U.S.A.," said Cortez, who lives in Minquadale. "The U.S.A. gave me everything."
Including amnesty.
While he is not a U.S. citizen, Cortez was one of about 2.7 million undocumented immigrants granted legal status under the Immigration and Reform Control Act of 1986 -- a program now widely viewed as a failure for neglecting to enforce employer sanctions and ultimately prompting massive waves of illegal immigration to the U.S.
This week, the Senate is to debate a fragile bipartisan deal that would provide a multistep process for millions of undocumented immigrants to earn legal status. Senate leaders Monday gave themselves an extension to work on the measure, until June.
Some critics object that it rewards illegal behavior. Others argue it's not an amnesty because it requires immigrants to pay hefty fines and wait at least eight years for residency.
The chances of the bill -- which also beefs up border security and workplace enforcement and revamps decades-old immigration policy by favoring education and skills over family ties -- are uncertain.
Experts say it is unclear how many of the country's 12 million undocumented immigrants would be able to pay $5,000 in fines and return to their home countries to apply for legal status, as the Senate bill requires. As many as 35,000 undocumented immigrants living in Delaware could be eligible for legal status.
If the barriers are too high or employer sanctions not enforced, the prospects for immigration reform failing are better, said Mark Miller, a University of Delaware political science professor who specializes in immigration.
"My concern is it won't be generous enough, and people won't legalize," he said. "We have a great stake in the integration of these populations, and it's an illusion to think they're going to disappear."
Family impact
For Cortez, amnesty provided a chance at "the American dream," he said. He owns La Chiquita, a Mexican restaurant and grocery store in New Castle.
His children, ages 21, 19, 11 and 9, haven't considered what their lives would have been like if their parents had remained undocumented, they said.
They're Americans of Mexican heritage. They have the same taste in video games, movies and music as anyone else their age -- lately the boys are into acoustic guitarist Jack Johnson.
The millions of U.S.-born children raised by their undocumented immigrant parents are the ones who could benefit most from the proposed legalization, said Michael Fix, vice president of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Migration Policy Institute. The earnings of those who were legalized in 1986 increased between 6 percent and 10 percent, and that upward mobility helped the children, he said.
"We need to make sure these kids have legal parents, with membership in society, and we aren't creating an underclass," Fix said.
But legalizing millions of low-skilled workers would balloon the size of the nation's poor population and burden taxpayers, said Jessica Vaughan, senior policy analyst for the conservative Center for Immigration Studies.
In May 2006, the Congressional Budget Office found that legalization would have a $12 billion positive impact on the federal budget in the decade after legalization.
At the state and local levels, low-skilled immigrants are shown to pose real burdens but also increase the size of the economy, according to a new report from the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.
Assimilation debate
Despite the offer of citizenship through amnesty in 1986, many immigrants never assimilated or learned English, Vaughan said. Less than 40 percent have gone on to become citizens. The others are legal permanent residents.
Manuel Diaz, of Wilmington, was granted legal status, but has not become a citizen because he doesn't know enough English to pass the test, he said.
Working in the mushroom industry, Diaz managed to buy a home on Lancaster Avenue. Two years ago, he gave away his furniture, expecting to buy new. Today, the living room is mostly empty, except for a few plastic indoor-outdoor chairs and a television. Because of medical bills from a work injury, coupled with his lack of income -- his wife and children are working extra to support the family -- he hasn't been able to refurnish his home.
Even so, life is so much better now, he said.
"Before, when I didn't have papers, I was always worried they would send me back to Mexico," he said. "Whenever there were rumors immigration was coming, we'd have to hide, go sleep in a car or in the field so they couldn't find us."
Penalties part of plan
Unlike the 1986 amnesty, which included only minimal processing fees, the bill drafted by the White House and Senate last week includes stringent penalties -- $5,000 -- as part of the steps to legalization.
"The more hoops there are to jump through, the more disincentive there is to legalize," Miller said.
Cortez said undocumented immigrants should pay a fine, but a more reasonable price is $2,000 or $3,000.
The fine is not the only downfall of the bill, experts say. Like the 1986 law, it does not immediately grant residency to family members who don't qualify for legal status. That's partly what created the current green-card application backlog -- already 22 years in some cases.
"I understand the fear that legalization will backfire, and five years down the line we're back to where we began," Miller said.
This story contains information from Associated Press. Contact Summer Harlow at 324-2794 or sharlow@delawareonline.com.
As Congress debates what to do about an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., The News Journal series examines the factors shaping the debate, the legislation and the effect on Delaware. This is the fourth installment.
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