President Obama Uses Executive Authority on Immigration Reform
Because the House of Representatives failed to take up the bi-partisan bill the Senate passed early in 2013, President Obama today, November 20th, 2014, took executive action on certain aspects of immigration reform and outlined to the country what that immigration action would be. According to the President, this action now provides more than 4 million undocumented immigrants the opportunity to temporarily stay in the U.S. and to come out of the shadows and play by the rules. It does not, however, provide citizenship nor a path toward citizenship; only Congress has the authority to do that. While the President outlined the legal immigration actions he could take through executive order, he repeated that he would continue to work with Congress to pass a bill on comprehensive immigration reform.
The following accountability was outlined by the President for those 4 million undocumented immigrants:
"In order to temporarily stay in the U.S. without fear of deportation, these undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents would have to:
- Have been here 5+ years
- Pass a background check
- Pay Taxes"
There will be an application process for those undocumented immigrants; it has not yet been provided by the Department of Homeland Security.
Also included in the President’s immigration action was: expanding work authorization for high-skilled workers, prioritizing enforcement resources to focus on criminals rather than families, and deploying more resources to the border.
Listen to the President’s entire speech here:
November 20, 2014 | 8:00 pm