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Friday, November 21, 2014

Obama's Executive Order on Immigration - the details and more analysis

President Obama's Thursday evening speech was short on details of the executive action being taken to defer deportation for up to 5 million undocumented immigrants. Below are some summaries and links to the pertinent details:



A summary from the Law Firm of Karen Crawford:

PRESIDENT OBAMA’S EXECUTIVE ACTION
November 21, 2014

1)      EXPANSION OF DACA –
a.       Age cap lifted – if you fulfill all other requirements, it does not matter how old you are now [this will impact journalist and activist Jose Antonio Vargas]
a.       He changed the date of entry– if you entered before your 16th birthday before January 1, 2010, you are now eligible (it was 6/15/07) 
b.      They will give permits for three years instead of two
c.       Rules will be released within 90 days
2)      DEFERRED ACTION FOR PARENTS – DAP
a.       Three year work permits for parents of US citizens and permanent residents
b.      You must have arrived before January 1, 2010
c.       The child must have been born by 11/20/14, but the age of the child doesn’t matter
d.      You must have been present in the US without lawful status on 11/20/14
e.       We do not know yet what documents are required nor the criminal eligibility, but the Immigration fee will be $465
f.        Rules will be released within 180 days
g.       In the meantime, gather evidence of identity (Passport or national ID), birth certificates of children and their resident cards if applicable, and evidence of your residence since 2010
3)      EXTENSION OF PROVISIONAL WAIVER PROGRAM
a.       You can request your waiver before you depart the US
b.      Extended to anyone with a currently available visa – specifically spouses of residents and sons/daughters of citizens and residents

c.       It may be easier to prove extreme hardship

U.S. Department of Homeland Security sealThe Department of Homeland Security has a website with a summary of the executive action and series of memos detailing policy changes and implementation 

Fixing Our Broken Immigration System Through Executive Action - Key Facts


Taking Action on Immigration


More Analysis:


Is Obama's immigration action legal? A Q&A.







Thursday, November 20, 2014

Obama takes executive action for undocumented parents of citizen children

Despite threats from GOP leaders, President Obama took a major step today to provide relief from deportation for approximately 4 million undocumented immigrants. After nearly two years of inaction by Congress, the President had been pressured by immigrant activists to take the action he had promised during his re-election campaign. He had originally planned to take action before the midterm election but was convinced by congressional democrats to wait. Some had urged him to wait until the new Congress was in place, to see if they would take action - the consequences of this executive action, including implementation, the response from conservatives and other issues remain to be seen:

Here’s Obama’s Immigration Speech In Full

Barack Obama

For those with a short attention span:


A quick recap from the WSJ:

The broad outlines of Obama’s actions tonight:
  • Would shift more resources to border enforcement
  • Would fix the immigration court system
  • Would grant more visas to victims of crimes or human trafficking
  • Would emphasize deporting criminals and persons suspected of involvement in terrorism or gang activity.
  • Would allow about 4 million immigrants to take a background check and apply for limited permission to stay in the country.
  • Would expand a deferred action program to cover more of the Dreamers — children of illegal immigrants brought to this country as children.

It's important to note that Obama's action does not extend to the parents of Dreamers (undocumented immigrants currently getting relief from deportation via Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA)

Analysis from the New York Times:


Analysis from the Los Angeles Times:

Silicon Valley lukewarm to Obama's immigration reform moves

Hot off the presses from the White House: