Under an executive action, President Barack Obama’s administration announced on Friday that hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children will be allowed to remain in the country without the daunting shadow of deportation and will be able to work. The broad policy change, exercised by the legal authority of the president, could temporarily benefit more than 800,000 young people. President Obama did not consult with Congress, where Republicans have generally opposed measures to benefit illegal immigrants.
Although the policy does not grant any permanent legal status, it clears the way for young illegal immigrants to come into the light, work legally, and obtain driver’s licenses and many other documents they’ve lacked. In the White House Rose Garden on Friday, President Obama said, “They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper.” Obama said he was taking “a temporary stopgap measure” that would “lift the shadow of deportation from these young people” and make immigration policy “more fair, more efficient and more just.” Under the new policy, the Department of Homeland Security will no longer initiate the deportation of illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. before age 16, have lived here for at least five years, and are in school, are high school graduates or are military veterans in good standing. Immigrants must also be under 30 and have clean criminal records.
