The debate over illegal immigration seems to crop up every two years, coinciding with the congressional and presidential elections. It is not an especially new topic: nearly 30 years ago Congress took up the same issue regarding Cuba. The feeling that something must be done began with the mass Cuban exodus from Mariel harbor at the turn of that decade. Polls showed an overwhelming majority of Americans, somewhere between 76% and 91%, wanted some kind of immigration reform, and Congress responded with the Simpson-Mazzoli bill.

On this day, May 18, in 1983, on a 76-18 vote, the Senate passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, also known as the Simpson-Mazzoli Act, for the two senators sponsoring it. It would take a further three years of rewrites and deliberations to get the act to pass.

This bill gave unauthorized aliens the opportunity to apply and gain legal status if they could prove residency in the U.S. since at least the start of 1982, have a clean criminal record, and provide proof of registration with the Selective Service. Applicants also had to prove a rudimentary knowledge of American history and government system. Those denied the legal status would not only be barred from legal employment, but also from receiving all forms of public welfare assistance for five years.