Obama offer to 5m illegal migrants

Nearly 5 million people living illegally in the United States can escape deportation under sweeping changes to the US immigration system. President Barack Obama unveiled his plan, which he is enacting without Congress, in a televised address. Republicans have argued the action is beyond his authority and relations with the President will be poisoned. There are about 11m illegal immigrants in the US and this year children coming across the border prompted a crisis. The President told the nation that what he is proposing is not amnesty. ‘What I’m describing is accountability – a commonsense, middle ground approach,’ he said. ‘If you meet the criteria, you can come out of the shadows and get right with the law. If you’re a criminal, you’ll be deported. If you plan to enter the US illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up.’ Although the plan will allow millions to work, it won’t offer a path to citizenship or entitle them to the same benefits as Americans, according to BBC.
More details include:
a) expanding eligibility requirements for those already subject to deportation deferment because they were brought to the US as children
b) ensuring undocumented parents of US citizens or legal permanent residents can temporarily escape deportation
c) shifting additional resources to the US-Mexico border to increase the likelihood of apprehending illegal crossers
d) streamlining the immigration court process to address the backlog of pending cases
e) directing government enforcement activities to national security threats, serious criminals and recent border crossers as highest priorities for removal from the US
Overall, the action could lift the threat of deportation for up to five million undocumented migrants.