Two major pieces of legislation passed in 1996 had a significant effect on illegal immigration and deportations in the United States ; the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act ( AEDPA ) and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act ( IIRIRA ) . These were introduced following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing , both of which were terrorist attacks that claimed American lives . These two acts changed the way criminal cases of lawful permanent residents were handled , resulting in increased deportations from the United States . Before the 1996 deportation laws , there were two steps that lawful permanent noncitizen residents who were convicted of crimes went through . The first step determined whether or not the person was deportable . The second step determined if that person should or should n't be deported . Before the 1996 deportation laws , the second step prevented many permanent residents from being deported by allowing for their cases to be reviewed in full before issuing deportations . External factors were taken into consideration such as the effect deportation would have on a person 's family members and a person 's connections with their country of origin . Under this system permanent residents were able to be relieved of deportation if their situation deemed it unnecessary . The 1996 laws however issued many deportations under the first step , without going through the second step , resulting in a great increase in deportations
1993 World Trade Center bombing
1993 World Trade Center bombing
Illegal immigration to the United States