A report written by President Obama’s top domestic policy advisor more than 20 years ago, when she served as a senior immigration policy analyst for the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), ought to raise some serious red flags with members of Congress.
In 1990, Cecilia Muñoz published a report that was sharply critical of the 1986 IRCA amnesty because it failed to maximize the number of illegal aliens who “were theoretically eligible for legalization.” Of course, there is virtual universal acknowledgement that the 1986 was widely abused and that many illegal aliens obtained amnesty fraudulently.
Muñoz was also highly critical of the employer sanctions provisions of IRCA, claiming that they were ineffective in preventing illegal aliens from working in the U.S. and resulted in discrimination against certain minorities. Employer sanctions were ineffective because groups like NCLR and others fought efforts to make them effective. Allegations that employer sanctions resulted in discrimination were never proven.
This dusty old report from 1990 is extremely relevant to the Obama administration’s effort to enact amnesty in 2013. As director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Muñoz would play a critical role in implementing any legislation passed by Congress. She would have a hand in writing key regulations that are as important, if not more so, than what Congress writes into a bill.
Muñoz’s complaints about the 1986 amnesty:
- “Employer sanctions are inherently discriminatory.”
- “…the first stage of legalization failed to maximize participation from the pool of eligible applicants.”
- “In the wake of this ‘one-time-only’ program, the nation appears to be left with a least as many undocumented people as when it first considered these proposals.”
Muñoz’s 1990 recommendations for a future amnesty:
- The U.S. should complete, and expand, amnesty for illegal aliens.
- Should focus on border enforcement, rather than worksite enforcement.
- “Congress should repeal employer sanctions.”
- “Congress should reject proposals to develop any type of identity card.”