Demetrios Papademetriou talked about the lessons learned from the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, which was intended to control the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. as well as provide a pathway to citizenship for those already in the country at the time. Mr. Papademetriou argued that the act set a foundation for policies that were eventually implemented, and that it showed the unpredictability of future labor market demands. He also suggested that the legislation was not necessarily at fault, but its implementation was.
C-SPAN Radio’s Nancy Calo read news headlines at the end of the program.