Hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants will avoid deportation, obtain college education and look for jobs, thanks to an executive order authorized by President Obama, and much to their surprise and joy.
In announcing this new policy, which is more of a ‘stopgap measure’ for the moment, at the White House Rose Garden, the President said, “They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper. Now let’s be clear: this is not an amnesty. This is not a path to citizenship. It is not a permanent fix.”
Despite opposition from Congress, especially from the Republicans, Obama made it clear that the Deputy of Homeland Security can no longer deport illegal immigrants, currently under the age of 30, who came to the United States before the age of 16, are high school graduates or military veterans or are in school at the moment.
Even though the Republicans have criticized for taking these steps, by saying that he has violated the law, this will almost immediately benefit 80000 illegal immigrants with no documentation, and who are eligible to become permanent legal residents, based on the Dream Act legislation.
On the other hand, student groups, the Hispanic Caucus in the House as well as Democratic lawmakers including Richard J. Durbin, the author of the Dream Act legislation, have been quick to praise the President for taking such a step that will help several immigrants that fall into this category to finally ‘come out’ into the open.
What is notable of this move is that most of these students are from states that could boost the President’s re-election prospect – namely New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada and Florida.