page_title: United States Border Patrol
section_title: 1986: Employer sanctions and interior enforcement
hierarchical_section_title: United States Border Patrol / Strategy / 1986: Employer sanctions and interior enforcement
caption_attribution_description: Border Patrol Agents watch for illegal entry from Mexico into the U.S.
context_page_description: The United States Border Patrol is the United States Customs and Border Protection's federal law enforcement arm within the United States Department of Homeland Security. The USBP is the armed and uniformed federal police that secure the borders of the United States by detecting and preventing illegal aliens, terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the United States, and prevent illegal trafficking of people and contraband.
  With 19,437 agents, the Border Patrol is one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the United States. For fiscal year 2017, Congress enacted a budget of $3,805,253,000 for the Border Patrol.
  The current chief of the Border Patrol is Rodney Scott.
context_section_description: The Border Patrol's priorities have changed over the years. In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act placed renewed emphasis on controlling illegal immigration by going after the employers that hire illegal aliens. The belief was that jobs were the magnet that attracted most illegal aliens to come to the United States. The Border Patrol increased interior enforcement and Form I-9 audits of businesses through an inspection program known as "employer sanctions". Several agents were assigned to interior stations, such as within the Livermore Sector in Northern California.
  Employer sanctions never became the effective tool it was expected to be by Congress. Illegal immigration continued to swell after the 1986 amnesty despite employer sanctions. By 1993, Californians passed Proposition 187, denying benefits to illegal aliens and criminalizing illegal aliens in possession of forged green cards, identification cards, and Social Security numbers. It also authorized police officers to question non-nationals as to their immigration status and required police and sheriff departments to cooperate and report illegal aliens to the INS. Proposition 187 drew nationwide attention to illegal immigration.
caption: Border Patrol Agents with a Hummer and Astar patrol for illegal entry into the United States
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