Instead of reducing the flow of illegal immigrants to the United States, the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act actually stimulated illegal immigration, say two UC Davis scholars. The law spread farm work authorization documents and information to poor, unsophisticated rural Mexicans and Central Americans, encouraging first-time immigrants. Further, programs to help U.S. farmers find enough seasonal workers sent a message that farm work as an illegal may be a way to qualify for future U.S. worker legalization programs, say Philip L. Martin and J. Edward Taylor, UC Davis agricultural economists and co-editors of the forthcoming book "Immigration Reform and U.S. Agriculture." The law, Martin and Taylor say, is the latest example of federal policy intended to change the farm labor market that instead had a far more significant unintended outcome. The 1986 reforms accelerated the spread of illegal aliens throughout the country and may have turned traditional farm labor supply problems into deeper, rural poverty problems.