Obama executive action would allow millions of illegal immigrants to stay in US

As soon as this week, President Obama will bypass Congress and take executive action that would allow millions of illegal immigrants to remain in the United States and be given the opportunity to obtain work permits, according to a New York Times report.

The Migration Policy Institute reports Obama’s plan could affect over three million people who have been living in the U.S. illegally for at least five years — though the New York Times report noted Obama may scale back his action to include only those who have lived in America for at least 10 years, which includes an estimated 2.5 million people.

Asserting his authority as president to enforce the nation’s laws with discretion, Mr. Obama intends to order changes that will significantly refocus the activities of the government’s 12,000 immigration agents. One key piece of the order, officials said, will allow many parents of children who are American citizens or legal residents to obtain legal work documents and no longer worry about being discovered, separated from their families and sent away.

Republicans in Congress have voiced their opposition to Obama’s proposal, including Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake, who is strongly opposed to the pending unilateral action.

“As someone who supports broad reform to our immigration system, I’m very disappointed with the action I’m hearing the president will take,” Flake said in a statement. “It certainly doesn’t seem like the right way to work with a new Congress.”

Flake’s sentiment is similar to that of House Speaker John Boehner, who said he and his fellow House Republicans will “fight the president tooth and nail” on unilateral immigration action, according to the New York Times report.

Mr. Boehner is considering suing Mr. Obama over immigration — as Republicans have said they might do on the president’s health care law — and on Thursday he refused to rule out a government shutdown, despite saying that was not his goal.

Senate Republicans, including Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah and Jeff Sessions of Alabama, intend to disrupt the president’s plans by preventing the passing of a budget next month “unless it prohibits the president from enacting what they call ‘executive amnesty’ for people in the country illegally,” the New York Times reported.

“If the president wants to change the legal structure, he should go through Congress rather than acting on his own,” Mr. Lee said Thursday. “I think it’s very important for us to do what we can to prevent it.”

The report suggests Obama hasn’t made up his mind on some key aspects of the executive action.

Extending protections to more undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children, and to their parents, could affect an additional one million or more if they are included in the final plan that the president announces. White House officials are also still debating whether to include protections for farm workers who have entered the country illegally but have been employed for years in the agriculture industry, a move that could affect hundreds of thousands of people.