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The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) introduced significant restrictions and reforms to U.S. immigration policy. Key restrictions include: 1. Tougher Penalties for Immigration Violations: • Expanded criminal penalties for illegal entry, reentry after deportation, and other immigration-related offenses. • Introduced mandatory detention for certain noncitizens, including those with criminal convictions, pending removal proceedings. 2. Expanded Grounds for Deportation: • Broadened the definition of “aggravated felony” to include more crimes, making it easier to deport noncitizens convicted of offenses like theft, fraud, or certain drug-related crimes, often retroactively. • Lowered the threshold for criminal convictions that trigger deportation, even for lawful permanent residents. 3. Restrictions on Legal Immigration: • Imposed stricter income requirements for U.S. citizens or legal residents sponsoring family members, requiring sponsors to prove they could support immigrants at 125% of the federal poverty level. • Limited access to public benefits for legal immigrants, restricting eligibility for programs like welfare, food stamps, and Medicaid for the first five years after entry. 4. Changes to Deportation Process: • Limited judicial review, reducing immigrants’ ability to appeal deportation orders in federal courts. • Expedited removal procedures, allowing immigration officers to deport certain undocumented immigrants without a hearing before an immigration judge. 5. Border Enforcement: • Increased funding for border patrol, adding agents and resources. • Authorized construction of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. • Imposed civil penalties for illegal entry, in addition to criminal ones. 6. State and Local Cooperation: • Encouraged cooperation between federal immigration authorities and state/local law enforcement through programs like 287(g), allowing local officers to perform immigration enforcement functions. 7. Restrictions on Relief from Deportation: • Eliminated or restricted forms of relief, such as “suspension of deportation,” replacing it with a stricter “cancellation of removal” process, requiring longer residency (e.g., 10 years) and proof of “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” to U.S. citizen or permanent resident family members. These changes aimed to strengthen border security, deter illegal immigration, and streamline deportation, but critics argue they increased family separations, limited due process, and penalized legal immigrants. The law’s effects are still felt in modern immigration policy.