WASHINGTON (AP) – For more than a decade lawmakers have been pointing at their counterparts to take the blame for what just about everyone agrees is a broken immigration system.
Republicans say President Barack Obama’s immigration enforcement policies encourage more people to sneak into the country. Democrats blame Republicans for blocking legislation that would have allowed people already here to gain legal status and create a path for future, legal immigration.
But whatever policies are being fought over now, immigration experts say the problem took root at least 30 years ago, when President Ronald Reagan signed a 1986 immigration law that has become known as the “Reagan Amnesty” and allowed roughly 3 million people in the country illegally to gain legal status.