The increasing number of undocumented immigrants to the UnitedStates, which set the stage for passage of California's Proposition187, can ironically be traced to federal immigration reform legislation passed in 1986, according to a new book. The Immigration Reform and Control Act did not stem the flow of immigants, nor did it improve farm-worker wages and working conditions, says the book, edited by two UC Davis agricultural economists. "Immigration Reform and U.S. Agriculture," an 800-page volume written by 25 social scientists from throughout the United States and edited by professor Philip E. Martin and associate professor J. Edward Taylor, examines "a wealth of data" generated by surveys of workers and farmers since 1986. The authors suggest that at the heart of the reform act's failure is a provision for "special agricultural workers," a status too easy to attain. The book notes, for instance, the "comical assertions" made by some of the 47,000 special agricultural worker applicants in New York City who claimed to have picked strawberries from ladders or harvested peaches in the middle of winter. The book, published by UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, will be available in December.