Illegal, Alien, or Immigrant: The Politics of Immigration Reform

In addition to reducing the “pull” of U.S. employment, we should
try to change the conditions abroad which “push” people toward
our borders. That would be accomplished by assisting people to
improve the quality of life in their own country. … It is no co-
incidence that America has been a symbol of both freedom and
prosperity. This is a theme which should be fully developed and
communicated to the world in a much more effective way than we
have been able to date.

—Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), Opening Statement to
Joint Hearings, Final Report of the Commission on
Immigration and Refugee Policy, May 5,1981

This sends a signal to the world: Don't come here illegally and
think the American taxpayer will take care of you.

—House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA),
New York Times, September 26,1996

As the statements above demonstrate, legislators are quite aware that they are not simply writing laws, but communicating values to a broader audience. The quotations reveal two very different definitions of the illegal immigration issue. Senator Simpson, who was an original force driving the bill that would become the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), defines illegal immigration as a dynamic process involving both domestic forces (employers) and international problems (poor economic policies and conditions abroad). Solutions to illegal immigration, according to Simpson, would need to address conditions in the United States and abroad. A decade later, House Speaker Newt Gingrich,

-42-