Speech #1130121842

Bush did. I think it is very important. very briefly. to show you that is not true at all. In 1986 Congress passed and President Reagan signed into law the Immigration Reform and Control Act. which gave amnesty to close to 3 million illegal immigrants. Amnesty was granted by statute. not by Executive order. That was a law which was passed and which the President signed and agreed to. Soon after. the people realized the children of these immigrantswho were still eligible for deportationwere simply overlooked. The fact is. if there is a husband and a wife and they are able to go ahead and become naturalized citizens. their underaged children would have to be as well. Everyone agreed. no one disagreed. and so they went ahead and did it. That was working with Congress. Congress made that decision with the President of the United States. In 1990 President Bush expanded President Reagans grant of deferred deportation to all minor children and to the spouses of those who were granted amnesty in the 1986 law. and Congress codified the policy later that year in the Immigration Act of 1990. So it wasnt George H.W. Bush who did this. it was the Congress of 1990 that did this.