Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama is ordering the most sweeping overhaul of the immigration system in decades, despite Republican claims he is acting illegally by moving unilaterally to shield five million undocumented immigrants.
Obama rejected
accusations by conservatives that he is offering a free pass to
undocumented immigrants and warned in a prime-time address that he would
bolster border security and make it harder for unauthorized outsiders
to get into the country.
"Today our immigration
system is broken and everybody knows it," Obama said. "It's been this
way for decades and for decades we haven't done much about it."
Obama is pressing ahead
and making broad changes to the immigration system without the consent
of Congress, which has failed to pass a comprehensive reform bill. The
announcement prompted an angry response from House Speaker John Boehner.
To those members of Congress who question my authority to make our
immigration system work better... I have one answer: Pass a bill.
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
"By ignoring the will of
the American people, President Obama has cemented his legacy of
lawlessness and squandered what little credibility he had left," Boehner
said. "Republicans are left with the serious responsibility of
upholding our oath of office."
A key element of Obama's
plan is to instruct immigration authorities to target those undocumented
immigrants who are dangerous rather than law-abiding undocumented
parents of U.S. citizens and residents and others.
He said they will go
after "felons, not families. Criminals, not children. Gang members, not a
Mom who's working hard to provide for her kids."
"We'll prioritize, just like law enforcement does every day," he said.
The changes will offer
those who qualify the chance to stay temporarily in the country for
three years, as long as they pass background checks and pay back taxes.
But they will not be offered a path to eventual citizenship or be
eligible for federal benefits or health care programs. And, in theory,
the measures could be reversed by a future president.
"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 U.S.
illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up,"
Obama said.
The President argued
that ordering a mass amnesty would be unfair but mass deportation would
"be both impossible and contrary to our character."
Republicans are slamming
Obama's use of executive authority as a mammoth presidential power
grab. But Obama said he was acting in a manner consistent with action
taken by Republican and Democratic presidents.
"To those members of
Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work
better, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I
have one answer: Pass a bill."
Officials insist that
Obama's moves are deeply grounded in law and constitutional precedent,
despite claims by Republicans that they represent an unlawful overreach
of his authority as president and his oath of office.
"The actions you see
here reasonably sit within his powers," one senior administration
official said. "I think that they are bold and they are aggressive but
they are in keeping with precedent."
Congressional
Republicans are weighing their response, juggling ideas that range from a
government shutdown to holding up Obama's nominees in the Senate.
And in the states, some Republican officials had already raised the possibility of lawsuits against the president.
The most far-reaching
changes in Obama's order will offer papers and work authorization to up
to four million people who are undocumented parents of U.S. citizens or
legal permanent residents, as long as they have lived in the U.S. for
five years or longer.
Obama will also remove
the upper age limit of 30 years old from a program known as Deferred
Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or Dreamers that allows those
brought illegally to the country as children to stay, offering relief to
thousands more people.
The program will cover
anyone who arrived in the country before 2010 and will extend a previous
two-year guarantee of relief to three years.
But White House lawyers
concluded the president did not have the power to offer parents of those
covered under DACA permits to stay in the country and work, a move that
will disappoint some immigration reform lobby groups.
In one concession however, parents of the so-called "Dreamers" will be removed from priority lists for deportation.
Officials said that the
broad sweep of the immigration measures were within Obama's powers
because he was directing authorities to prioritize which groups of the
11.4 million undocumented immigrants in the country should be deported.
"Deferred action is not a
pathway to citizenship. It is not legal status. It simply says that for
three years, you are not a law enforcement priority and are not going
to go after you," said one senior official. "It is temporary and it is
revocable."
Officials said law
enforcement officials made similar decisions each day about which
categories of offenders to target with prosecution and the president was
simply charting a new way to apply existing immigration laws.
The new approach, which
will begin to be phased in next spring, will include a more robust
effort to target gang members, suspected terrorists, and felons.
It will also focus more
sharply on undocumented immigrants who have recently crossed U.S.
borders in a bid to slow the flow of illegal immigration, the officials
said. New resources are also expected to be announced to secure borders,
following claims that enforcement is lax and contributed to the flow of
thousands of undocumented child migrants into the U.S. earlier this
year, which sparked a hot political controversy.
In moves likely be
applauded by the business community, the administration will also reform
immigration rules to make it easier for science and technology students
to study in the U.S. There will also be a new program to attract
entrepreneurs to come to the U.S. if they can show they have sufficient
investors.
But the president got mixed reviews among leaders in border states.
"In the face of
Washington gridlock, the president stepped up for hard-working families
across America. This is the right thing to do, and it's time for
Congress to finish the job," said California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., a
Democrat.
But Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said Obama should have sought a bipartisan solution.
"He is once again taking brazen, unilateral action that will only further exacerbate the border problem," the Republican said.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry said the president's action will lead to more illegal immigration.
"It is time for the
president and Congress to secure our border, followed by meaningful
reforms. There is no more time for political grandstanding," he said.
tions 'huge' for Hispanic community
The changes that Obama
announced, however, fall far short of the reforms that could be enacted
were Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration bill.
The president has no
power to put undocumented immigrants on the long road to citizenship. He
cannot grant permanent residence permits known as Green Cards, and all
of his changes could be struck down by a future president.
Officials insisted that
Obama's moves were consistent with immigration actions ordered by
presidents, including Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, for decades.
The magnitude of the numbers involved here, however, surpass anything
any president had done before.