Clinton signs Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act

President Clinton signed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) on September 30, 1996, fundamentally restructuring immigration enforcement in the United States. The law established expedited removal procedures allowing deportation without a hearing for certain migrants, expanded the grounds for removal, imposed new bars on reentry, and stripped immigration judges of discretion in many cases. IIRIRA created the legal architecture that would generate a multi-million-case immigration court backlog over the following three decades.