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Perhaps the most striking historical parallel to today's immigration challenges is the "Family Fairness" policy implemented by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, Sr. The story behind the fairness policy begins on November 6, 1986, when President Reagan signed the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which gave up to 3 million unauthorized immigrants a path to legalization if they had been "continuously" present in the U.S. since January 1, 1982. But the new law excluded their spouses and children who didn't qualify and forced them to wait in line, creating "split-eligibility" families, as they were called. The U.S. Catholic bishops and immigration groups criticized President Reagan for separating families.
In 1987, Reagan's Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) commissioner announced a blanket deferral of deportation (logistically similar to today's DACA program) for children under 18 who were living in a two-parent household with both parents legalizing, or with a single parent who was legalizing. Then, in July 1989, the Senate passed legislation to protect a bigger group -- prohibiting deportation of all spouses and children of those who were legalizing under IRCA.
But the legislation stalled in the House, and in 1990 President Bush Sr. administratively implemented the Senate bill's provisions. His INS commissioner, saying "We can enforce the law humanely," expanded the blanket deferral to as many as 1.5 million spouses and children of immigrants who were legalizing, provided they met certain criteria. President Bush thus protected over 40 percent of the then-unauthorized population from deportation. The House then passed legislation, and President Bush signed it later that year. ["Executive Grants of Temporary Immigration Relief, 1956-Present," American Immigration Council, October 2014]
http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/11/13/right-wing-media-wrong-about-the-legality-of-th/201553#republicans
