The Legalization Countdown: A Third-Quarter Assessment

The Immigration Control and Reform Act of 1986 (IRCA) gives undocumented aliens a chance to be granted legal immigration status. This document is the third quarter assessment of the Act, which ends its application period on May 4, 1988. The overall finding is that the legalization program requires major policy intervention before it is over or the chance to bring order to the immigration structure will be lost. More specific findings and recommendations include the following: (1) the public information effort has been inadequate and should be enhanced by a broad-based partnership of public and private information services; (2) adjustments in the regulatory policy have removed some barriers to eligibility but family members must be assured that each case will be judged sympathetically on its own merits; (3) the application process is efficient, and timely final decisions must be the highest priority; (4) some assistance organizations are operating well, others that have experienced mistrust must receive more support from the Immigration and Naturalization Service; (5) since the exact number of eligible persons is not known, the success of the program should not be judged by numbers; and (6) special arrangements may have to be made if there is a surge of applications just before the deadline. (VM)