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The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), also Simpson-Mazzoli Act (Pub. L. No. 99-603, 100 Stat. 3359, signed by President Ronald Reagan on November 6, 1986) is an Act of Congress which reformed United States immigration law. The Act made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit undocumented workers (immigrants who do not possess lawful work authorization), required employers to attest to their employees' immigration status, and granted amnesty to undocumented workers who entered the United States before January 1, 1982 and had resided there continuously.

The law criminalized the act of knowingly hiring an illegal immigrant and established financial and other penalties for those employing illegal aliens under the theory that low prospects for employment would reduce illegal immigration. It introduced the I-9 form to ensure that all employees presented documentary proof of their legal eligibility to accept employment in the United States.

These sanctions would only apply to employers that had more than three employees and that did not make a sufficient effort to determine the legal status of the worker. IRCA also established a provision that if "wide-spread" discrimination was caused through employer-sanctions, according to a three year report by the General Accounting Office (now the Government Accountability Office) (GAO), then the sanctions would be repealed. The GAO found discrimination in 10% of cases studied, and the employment sanctions were not repealed.

The legislation is frequently cited by opponents of illegal immigration as a failure in that, for each undocumented worker granted amnesty under the plan, approximately four new ones have since replaced them. This assertion is based on the estimate that 2.7 million undocumented workers were legalized and the current estimate of undocumented workers in the United States between 12 to 21 million.^[1]

Critics point to the IRCA of 1986 as proof in their view that amnesty is not the solution for the large number of undocumented workers currently in the United States.

Another criticism is what may be referred to as "daisy chain" migration. An immigrant who has gained legal status can file a petition for a relative (CIS Form I-130) so that his or her family can immigrate to the United States. Those familiar with the immigration laws argue, however, that the long waiting times to enter the United States based on family connections (up to 27 years in the case certain Filipino immigrant family members, according to the State Department Visa Bulletin) prove that such a fear of "daisy chain" migration is unfounded.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act had many negative effects on Hispanic Americans. Due to the requirements of the IRCA and fines for illegal employment many employers began to discriminate against Hispanic workers. To reduce the risk of breaking IRCA's sanctions employers would not hire anyone who appeared Hispanic.^[2] If hired, wages were lower to compensate employers for the perceived risk of hiring foreigners.^[3]

The hiring process also changed as employers turned to indirect hiring through subcontractors. "Under a subcontracting agreement, a U.S. citizen or resident alien contractually agrees with an employer to provide a specific number of workers for a certain period of time to undertake a defined task at a fixed rate of pay per worker".^[3] By using a subcontractor the firm is not held liable since the workers are not employees. The use of a subcontractor decreases a worker's wages since a portion is kept by the subcontractor. This indirect hiring is imposed on everyone regardless of legality.^[3]

Thus, the IRCA's employer sanctions restructured the market for unskilled labor in the U.S., increased discrimination on the basis of legal status, increased discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, and contributed to subcontracting becoming the principal hiring method. Legal Hispanics are now working for lower wages and in bad working conditions "in return of the opportunity to work".^[3]

• Immigration
• Foreign Worker Visa
• Alan Simpson
• Romano L. Mazzoli
• Labor economics

• Text of Act
• [1] Summary of the Bill from "Thomas" for the Library of Congress.)
• [2] (Detailed legislative history of Simpson-Mazzoli from introduction to Presidential signature, also from "Thomas" for the Library of Congress.)
• Statement on Signing the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
• [3] (September 2006 article by Mazzoli and Simpson revisiting the legislation in the current political climate.)
• "Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future" Migration Policy Institute

v • d • e United States immigration debate
Issues	Illegal immigration · Trafficking in human beings · Labor shortage · Terrorism · U.S-Mexico Border · Economic impact · Population · Immigration reduction · Legalization · Guest worker program
Proposed legislation	DREAM Act (2001-2007) · H.R. 4437 (2005) · Jackson Lee (2005) · McCain-Kennedy (2005) · SKIL (2006) · S. 2611 (2006) · STRIVE Act (2007) · S. 1348 (2007)
Action	REAL ID (2005) · Secure Fence Act (2006) · 2006 Protests
Organizations	Immigration and Customs Enforcement · CHIRLA · CCIR · NIF · FIRM · WAAA · NCLR · FAIR · MMP · MCDC · CCIR · SOS · CIS · NUSA · MPI
Past laws	Naturalization Act (1795) · 14th Amendment (1868) · Chinese Exclusion (1882) · Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907 (1907) · Emergency Quota Act (1921) · Immigration Act of 1924 (1924) · Bracero Program (1942-64) · INS Act (1965) · IRCA (1986) · IIRIRA (1996)