Agriculture Law Commons^™

Foreign Farm Workers In The U.S.: The Impact Of The Immigration Reform And Control Act Of 1986, Stephen W. Yale-Loehr

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The enactment of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 ("IRCA"), popularly known as the Simpson-Rodino Act, was in large part spurred by Congressional desire to exercise more effective control over the influx of foreign farm workers in this country. This is not a new issue; the U.S. has admitted temporary foreign agricultural workers since 1917, and their entry has always been the subject of heated debate. Between 1942 and 1964 the "bracero" program allowed Mexicans to work temporarily in U.S. agriculture, but this program resulted in massive civil rights and labor violations and depressed wages in the Southwest. …