In 1996 fresh off the heels of signing welfare reform, and two years after signing the "crime bill" President Bill Clinton signed a bill that overhauled immigration enforcement in the US and laid the groundwork for the massive deportation machine that exists today.
Both welfare reform and the crime bills Clinton signed have been relitigated during a contentious Democratic primary but the 1996 immigration bill the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act hasn't.
That's mostly because Democrats have come a long way on the issue since 1996, and advocates have been happy to let them do it without asking too many questions about the past. Only now are some progressive Democrats trying to raise the issue (32 members of the House of Representatives have signed onto a congressional resolution condemning the 1996 law, introduced Thursday by Rep. Raul Grijalva).
If Democrats ever find themselves in a position to pass the comprehensive immigration reform, they might find the past law's immigration legacy has been too consequential to ignore.
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