Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996

Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996
Great Seal of the United States
Long titleDivision C of "An Act making omnibus consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1997, and for other purposes".
Acronyms (colloquial)IIRAIRA
Enacted bythe 104th United States Congress
EffectiveApril 1, 1997[1]
Citations
Public lawPub. L. 104–208 (text) (PDF)
Statutes at Large110 Stat. 3009-546
Codification
Acts amendedAntiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996
Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994
Immigration Act of 1990
Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988
Titles amended8 U.S.C.: Aliens and Nationality
U.S.C. sections amended
Legislative history
United States Supreme Court cases
List

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA or IIRIRA)[2][3] , enacted as division C of the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997, made major changes to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). IIRAIRA's changes became effective on April 1, 1997.[1]

Former United States President Bill Clinton asserted that the legislation strengthened "the rule of law by cracking down on illegal immigration at the border, in the workplace, and in the criminal justice system — without punishing those living in the United States legally".[4] However, IIRAIRA has been criticized as overly punitive "by eliminating due process from the overwhelming majority of removal cases and curtailing equitable relief from removal".[5] A range of critiques have emerged concerning the provisions enacted with IIRAIRA, such as the expansion of aggravated felonies, creation of the 287(g) program, reduction in due process rights, and intensified funding of border militarization.[5][6][7][8] With IIRAIRA, all noncitizens, regardless of legal status and including long-term legal permanent residents, became subject to removal and greatly expanded the offenses that could lead to formal deportation.[9]

Proponents of the IIRAIRA present the case that the policy provided a much needed end to numerous loopholes present beforehand in US immigration policy, which ultimately undermined their efficacy.[10] The ultimate goal of the IIRAIRA has been to deter further illegal immigration into the US, and despite a noticeable increase in annual deportations since the policy was enacted in 1996 from around 50,000 to over 200,000 by the beginning of the 2000s,[11] overall illegal immigration has increased since the policy's enactment according to data compiled by the Pew Research Center.[12]

Before IIRAIRA, nonimmigrants who overstayed their visas or violated their status could pay a fine that would allow them to adjust their status to permanent residence status.[13] With IIRAIRA, however, lawfully admitted nonimmigrants who overstay their visas by one day or longer became ineligible for a new nonimmigrant visa.[13] If the period of overstay ranged from 180 to 365 days, the noncitizen would face a 3-year bar to reentry, and an overstay of more than 365 days would require a 10-year bar. These provisions impact noncitizens who were admitted before and after the enactment of IIRAIRA.[13] In these circumstances, a noncitizen who falls under these categories would be subject to summary removal if attempting to reenter the United States. In these removal proceedings, the noncitizen does not have a right to a hearing or a lawyer and is subject to a 5-year bar of entry.[13]

  1. ^ a b "Othi v. Holder, 734 F.3d 259". Fourth Circuit. Harvard Law School. October 29, 2013. p. 265.
  2. ^ Division C of Pub. L. 104–208 (text) (PDF), 110 Stat. 3009-546, enacted September 30, 1996
  3. ^ This article in most part is based on law of the United States, including statutory and latest published case law.
  4. ^ Clinton, Bill (1996). "Statement on Signing the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act, 1997". Archived from the original on 12 May 2022.
  5. ^ a b Abrego, Leisy; Coleman, Mat; Martínez, Daniel E.; Menjívar, Cecilia; Slack, Jeremy (2017). "Making Immigrants into Criminals: Legal Processes of Criminalization in the Post-IIRIRA Era". Journal on Migration and Human Security. 5 (3): 694–715. doi:10.1177/233150241700500308. ISSN 2331-5024. S2CID 219950410.
  6. ^ De Genova, Nicholas (2005). Working the Boundaries: Race, Space, and "Illegality" in Mexican Chicago. Duke University Press. doi:10.1215/9780822387091. ISBN 978-0-8223-3626-6.
  7. ^ Hing, Bill Ong (2018). "Entering the Trump Ice Age: Contextualizing the New Immigration Enforcement Regime". Texas A&M Law Review. 5 (2): 253–321. doi:10.37419/LR.V5.I2.1. S2CID 158801311.
  8. ^ Menjivar, Cecilia; Kanstroom, Daniel, eds. (2013). Constructing Illegality in America: Critiques, Experiences, and Responses. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9781107300408. ISBN 978-1-107-30040-8.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ Goodman, Adam (2020). The Deportation Machine: America's Long History of Expelling Immigrants. Princeton University Press. pp. 164–196. ISBN 978-0691182155.
  10. ^ Stein, Daniel; Barton, Terri (1998). "THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION REFORM AND IMMIGRANT RESPONSIBILITY ACT OF 1996: NOTABLE CHANGES FOR RESTORING INTEGRITY AND CREDIBILITY TO U.S. IMMIGRATION POLICY". Rutgers Race & L Rev. 1 (1): 111–112. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  11. ^ Massey, Douglass; Pren, Karen (30 July 2012). "Unintended Consequences of US Immigration Policy: Explaining the Post-1965 Surge from Latin America". Population and Development Review. 38 (1): 8. doi:10.1111/j.1728-4457.2012.00470.x. PMC 3407978. PMID 22833862.
  12. ^ Lopez, Mark; Passel, Jeffrey; Cohn, D'Vera. "Key facts about the changing U.S. unauthorized immigrant population". pewresearch.org. Pew Research Center. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  13. ^ a b c d Fragoman, Austin T. Jr. (1997). "The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996: An Overview". The International Migration Review. 31 (2): 438–460. doi:10.2307/2547227. JSTOR 2547227. PMID 12292878.