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Reagan’s amnesty program gave Gen X immigrants the chance to succeed. DREAMers deserve the same | Guest Opinion

A conservative president jump-started what became a remarkable success story unfolded for undocumented children in the United States.

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Reagan’s amnesty program gave Gen X immigrants the chance to succeed. DREAMers deserve the same

In the late 1980s, a major immigration reform, spearheaded by President Reagan and passed with bipartisan support in Congress, gave amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants living in the United States. In economic terms, what came next for these families after securing legal status is nothing short of inspirational.
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The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 gave amnesty to most undocumented immigrants who came to the United States before Jan. 1, 1982. President Reagan then used his executive authority to take things a step further, granting legal status to any minor under 18 whose parents were in the process of obtaining legal status themselves.
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Because of the Reagan-era amnesty, the Gen X children of modern immigrants whom we studied were raised by parents with legal status and likely had legal status themselves.

Take this away, and we’re worried what we’ll find when we study more recent children of immigrants, like the DREAMers — group of undocumented immigrants who arrived themselves as children, and are so-named for the stalled DREAM Act in Congress.

It will take another 10 years for the DREAMers to be old enough for us to compare them with groups that came before. While we don’t yet have the data, we do know the outsized barriers they will face. Without a green card or citizenship, working outside of the cash economy will be difficult. As a result, many do not see the point in finishing high school. For those that do, applying to college or funding their education without access to the lending system has been an enormous challenge.

Fortifying DACA for those who are already a part of the program, as the Biden administration did in late October through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is a signal that these young people shouldn’t lose hope — and is the bare minimum of what they deserve.

But the new rule cannot override court orders that prevent the administration from processing new DACA applications. Passing the DREAM Act or otherwise legislating permanent residency for the DREAMers is a critical — and reasonable — next step. After all, DACA, which only applies to immigrants who arrived as children and not to their parents, is not nearly as extensive as the 1986 amnesty policy.