Clinton supported IIRIRA because it had tough enforcement provisions and he was opposed to illegal immigration.
When his chief of staff, Leon Panetta, gave a briefing on IIRIRA, he said, “We got I think all of the proposals that we were out to get for illegal immigration have been included and we fully support those.”
Clinton’s statement at the signing ceremony included the following observation:
“This bill, … includes landmark immigration reform legislation that builds on our progress of the last 3 years. It strengthens the rule of law by cracking down on illegal immigration at the border, in the workplace, and in the criminal justice system — without punishing those living in the United States legally.”
Ironically, Trump’s authority to do this comes from a bill that former President Bill Clinton signed into law, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), section 302 of which added expedited removal proceedings to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
The primary objective of these proceedings is to use immigration officers to screen out and rapidly remove asylum-seeking migrants with meritless persecution claims.
According to TRAC Immigration, in fiscal 2019, as of the end of June, the immigration court has rendered 45,322 decisions on asylum applications, and asylum was denied in 31,260 (69 percent) of the cases.
Previous administrations limited expedited removal proceedings to aliens:
- Arriving at ports of entry;
- Arriving by sea and not admitted or paroled into the United States; and
- Aliens who are present in the United States without being admitted or paroled, are encountered within 100 air miles of an international border, and have not established that they have been physically present in the United States continuously for the 14-day period immediately preceding their encounter with an immigration officer.
