Within a few short years of the 1990 changes in immigration and refugee policy, the country was turning away from the Pennsylvania model of immigration. This chapter begins with a discussion of the renewed growth in unauthorized migration after the IRCA legalization and the failure of the United States to address it. In many respects, the high level of tolerance for unauthorized migration represents a return to the Virginia model of disposable workers with few rights. But that tolerance came at a price when numbers increased. Illegal immigration became a divisive issue in the 1994 elections when California adopted Proposition 187, which would have restricted the access of unauthorized immigrants, including children, to basic emergency services and education. The chapter discusses continuing efforts at the state and local levels to address unauthorized migration, including Arizona's passage of legislation in 2010 that sparked widespread opposition and efforts by the federal government to preempt implementation.

As the economy boomed in the late 1990s, Immigration and Naturalization Service officials indicated that they would not conduct workplace raids. In part, this decision reflected frustration with the overall inadequacy of sanctions on employers as a mechanism for enforcing immigration laws. However, the hands-off policy was also based on recognition that aggressive workplace enforcement resulted in attacks from powerful constituencies when the unemployment rate was the lowest in decades. Worksite enforcement remains a controversial issue, with periodic announcements from the successor agency to the INS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Department of Homeland Security, about new measures, but little in the way of sustained attention to factors that attract unauthorized workers. This chapter discusses the failures of repeated Congresses to make reforms in immigration policies that would either address the situation of those already in the country illegally or stem future movements of unauthorized workers.