Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996

Common card · No. 296288

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA), is a law enacted as division C of the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997 which made major changes to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (INA). IIRAIRA's changes became effective on April 1, 1997. 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". However, IIRAIRA has been criticized as overly punitive and intensifying border militarization. With IIRAIRA, all aliens, regardless of legal status, were liable to removal and it expanded types of transgressions that could lead to removal. Proponents of the IIRAIRA contend the law was necessary to end loopholes present beforehand in US immigration policy, which undermined the immigration system. A major motivator behind IIRAIRA...

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