Enforcement with consequences is the policy implemented within the US to help deter the rising tide of immigration that has grown in the US. It is the expansion of policy and consequences for people who choose to enter illegally and subjects them to legal, political and educational debates concerning legality status.
Policy
In 1965 Congress passed amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act that placed numerical limits on immigration from the western hemisphere. This also ended longstanding guest worker agreements with Mexico.
By 1976 only 20,000 legal resident visas were allocated per year to Mexico and no temporary work visas were allocated.
By 1985 Ronald Reagan declared illegal immigration a threat to national security.
Beginning in the 1990s, regular crossing points in Texas and California were targeted for extra guarding, such as in 1994 Operation Gatekeeper, as a way to stop crossings in heavy traffic areas. This had little effect on the flow of people across the border and instead pushed people to attempt to cross in more dangerous and secluded areas such as the Sonoran Desert which claims the lives of hundreds of immigrants per year.
In 1996 Congress passed three acts aimed at illegal residents and border protection. They reduced access to safety net programs, toughened border enforcement, made it harder to claim asylum, stripped many due process rights of those in custody and expanded grounds for deportation.
Historical context
Bush administration
The Bush administration was historically the first to begin with Enforcement with Consequence policies that are used today. Before 2005 when the policy was beginning to be implemented, border patrol had been using a technique labeled "Catch and Release" which allowed for illegal immigrants who had been apprehended to immediately try to reenter. The Bush Administration originally had the plan to make a long lasting relationship with Mexico in order to streamline the process of bringing in cheap manual labor to be used in the country. During 2005 this stance had radically changed however and the beginning of using the US law as consequence for illegal entry had begum. The house bill written and proposed by James Sensenbrenner began to crack down harder and gave more offenses to aiding illegal immigrants, this included helping or and illegal, knowingly hiring an illegal and being in the country illegally. The bill was passed on December 16, 2005 and made many of these offenses punishable with Jail time. This bill created an outcry by pro immigration however and led to many demonstrations and rallies condemning the bill. This prompted many Democratic senators to begin working on a "grand bargain" which created a more balanced approach to immigration while not excluding Republican ideas outright. Immigration based on Merit (Education, Experiences and land needs), rather than family reunification was discussed. During this time Congressman Tom Tancredo (Republican-Colorado) began to voice his opinion that immigration had begun to change the way that American culture was valued. In the end the Bush administration failed in its original plan to build a relationship with Mexico and was the start of hard consequences for illegal immigration in the country.