The Perennial 'Criminal Alien' Red Herring
Same playbook, different decade: FIRST INSTANCE: The 'Criminal Alien' Focus as Justification (1980s) The term 'criminal alien' gained significant traction in U.S. policy discussions in the 1980s, particularly following the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). While IRCA focused on employer sanctions and legalization pathways, it also laid groundwork for increased enforcement. By 1988,
the Anti-Drug Abuse Act expanded the list of deportable offenses, marking an early pivot towards emphasizing criminality to justify stricter immigration controls. REPETITIONS: Expanding the Net Beyond Violent Crime (1990s-2000s) 1996: The Aggravated Felony Expansion The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA) of 1996 dramatically expanded the definition of 'aggravated
felony' to include a wide range of non-violent offenses, such as shoplifting or minor drug possession. This legislative shift immediately inflated the number of non-citizens classified as 'criminal aliens,' without a corresponding rise in violent crime. Data from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) in 2015 showed that this expansion led to an increase of deportations for non-violent offenses
(Migration Policy Institute, 2015) . 2003: Post-9/11 'Security' Overlap Following the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003, immigration enforcement became deeply intertwined with national security rhetoric. Administrations frequently cited the need to remove 'dangerous' individuals. However, an analysis by TRAC in 2005 revealed that fewer than 10% of those deported had