Once again, Congress is considering proposals to grant amnesty to aliens who entered the United States illegally. The Bush Administration is being pressed hard by newly-elected Mexican President Vicente Fox to grant amnesty to Mexican workers who are already illegally in the United States. Although President Bush announced on April 3 that he does not support an amnesty, pressure is likely to increase in the coming months.

The United States never granted an amnesty to illegal aliens until 1986. More than 3 million aliens took advantage of the 1986 amnesty and many more applied for special agricultural worker programs that also provided legal status. Special amnesties have opened the way for hundreds of thousands more. But massive amnesty programs were rejected in 1999 and 2000.

Now the proposals have returned. The additional amnesties proposed by the Mexican government should be rejected. Amnesties are never-ending, open-ended rewards for illegality. Amnesty for illegal immigrants would:

Rewards Lawbreakers: Amnesty is both a pardon (that removes any penalty for breaking the law) and a reward (by giving the lawbreaker the permanent residency they sought to seal in the first place). And the huge number of amnestied aliens will clamor loudly for their relatives to come here.

Encourages More Illegal Immigration: Amnesties always lead to more illegal immigration, and aliens around the world will sneak into the United States to be part of the next amnesty. We granted amnesty to 3 million illegal workers in 1986, only to see the number of illegal aliens rise to an estimated 11 million in 2000. Amnesty is not a cure for illegal immigration; it is a cause of illegal immigration.

Sparks Massive Litigation: Illegal immigrants and their advocates try to expand each amnesty far beyond its original limits. Litigation from the 1986 amnesty resulted in congressional action last December admitting hundreds of thousands of aliens who didn't qualify for the earlier pardons.

Rather than simply granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, American policy should focus on incentives to illegal workers to return home. They arrived here without our help; they will leave the same way if we don't dangle another amnesty before them. The Fox amnesty proposals should be rejected.