Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act

Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996

Long title	An Act making omnibus consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1997, and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial)	IIRIRA
Nicknames	Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997, “The Mexican Exclusionary Act of 1996”:
Enacted by	the 104th United States Congress
Effective	September 30, 1996
Citations
Public law	104-208
Statutes at Large	110 Stat. 3009 aka 110 Stat. 3009-546
Codification
Titles amended	8 U.S.C.: Aliens and Nationality
U.S.C. sections amended	8 U.S.C. ch. 12, subch. I § 1101 et seq. 8 U.S.C. ch. 12, subch. II § 1221 et seq. 8 U.S.C. ch. 12, subch. II § 1324 8 U.S.C. ch. 12, subch. II § 1363a
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 3610 by C. W. Bill Young (R-FL) on June 11, 1996 Committee consideration by House Appropriations, Senate Appropriations, House Judiciary Passed the House on June 13, 1996 (278–126, Roll call vote 247, via Clerk.House.gov) Passed the Senate on July 18, 1996 (72–27, Roll call vote 200, via Senate.gov, in lieu of S. 1894) Reported by the joint conference committee on September 28, 1996; agreed to by the House on September 28, 1996 (370–37, Roll call vote 455, via Clerk.House.gov) and by the Senate on September 30, 1996 (Agreed voice vote) Signed into law by President William J. Clinton on September 30, 1996

Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997, “The Mexican Exclusionary Act of

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, Division C of Pub.L. 104–208, 110 Stat. 3009-546, enacted September 30, 1996 (often referred to as "i-RAI-ruh," and sometimes abbreviated as "IIRAIRA" or "IIRIRA") vastly changed the immigration laws of the United States.

This act states that immigrants unlawfully present in the United States for 180 days but less than 365 days must remain outside the United States for three years unless they obtain a pardon. If they are in the United States for 365 days or more, they must stay outside the United States for ten years unless they obtain a waiver. If they return to the United States without the pardon, they may not apply for a waiver for a period of ten years.

Previously, immediate deportation was triggered only for offenses that could lead to five years or more in jail. Under the Act, minor offenses such as shoplifting may make individuals eligible for deportation. When IIRIRA was passed in 1996, it was applied retroactively to all those convicted of deportable offenses.

However, in 2001, the US Supreme Court decided that Congress did not intend IIRIRA to be applied retroactively to those who pleaded guilty to a crime prior to the enactment of IIRIRA if they would not have been deportable at the time that they pleaded guilty in (INS v. St. Cyr).

IIRIRA's mandatory detention provisions have also been repeatedly challenged, with less success.

The Reed Amendment, a portion of IIRIRA that makes people who renounced U.S. citizenship excludable from the U.S. if the Attorney General finds that they renounced for purposes of tax avoidance, has also been suggested to be unconstitutional.

The IIRIRA authorized the Immigration and Naturalization Service to use "secret evidence" against aliens in various immigration proceedings if the evidence is deemed classified and the INS considers it relevant to the case. Critics have challenged the constitutionality of this provision and in 1999 and 2000 a "Secret Evidence Repeal Act" was introduced in Congress, but never passed.

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