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Immigration Reform and Control Act, November 6, 1986, National Archives, Washington, DC
Abraham Lincoln's presidential legacy is most clearly tied to his leadership in the Civil War and role in ending legal slavery. His tremendous impact on America's immigration policy is less well known. On July 4, 1864 -- the same day Lincoln moved to the Cottage for his final season in residence -- he signed into law An Act to Encourage Immigration, the first comprehensive immigration law in American history and the nation's only law to encourage immigration.
Over 120 years after President Abraham Lincoln signed into law An Act to Encourage Immigration, President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act on November 6, 1986. Reagan's Act controlled and deterred illegal immigration to the United States. It included four main provisions: legalization of undocumented aliens who had been living in the United States since 1982, legalization of specific agricultural workers, sanctions for employers who knowingly hired undocumented workers, and greater enforcement at US borders. Considered by many the most comprehensive immigration reform in recent history, some critics believe it did not provide enough avenues for legal immigration.
President Lincoln envisioned the United States as a global beacon for freedom and opportunity and believed immigration should be encouraged and protected. President Reagan later echoed this vision by declaring America a shining city on a hill. In the decades between Lincoln and Reagan, immigration in America evolved, and continues to do so today. Yet, Lincoln's vision of the nation as a beacon of hope has remained. |