Immigration in the United States

Executive Order on Deportation Policy — June 15, 2012

The Obama administration will block deportations of hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants who had been brought to the country as children, ending a years-long standoff with Hispanic activists who are crucial to the president’s 2012 reelection campaign.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano made the announcement in a statement on June 15, 2012.

Under the new plan, illegal immigrants will be immune from deportation if they were brought to the United States before they turned 16 and are younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have no criminal history, graduated from a U.S. high school or earned a GED, or served in the military. They also can apply for a work permit that will be good for two years with no limits on how many times it can be renewed. The officials who described the plan spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss it in advance of the official announcement.

The policy change bypasses Congress and partially achieves the goals of the so-called DREAM Act. The act is a long-sought but never enacted plan to establish a path toward citizenship for young people who came to the United States illegally but who have attended college or served in the military.

The policy will not lead toward citizenship but will remove the threat of deportation and grant the ability to work legally, leaving eligible immigrants able to remain in the United States for extended periods.

“Our nation’s immigration laws must be enforced in a firm and sensible manner,” said Napolitano said. “But they are not designed to be blindly enforced without consideration given to the individual circumstances of each case. Nor are they designed to remove productive young people to countries where they may not have lived or even speak the language. Discretion, which is used in so many other areas, is especially justified here.”

The issue has been a major point of contention between immigration advocates and President Obama. Advocates have spent months urging the president to take executive action to spare many young illegal immigrants from deportation, and until now Obama has insisted that he did not have the authority to do so.

Napolitano announced the new policy one week before Obama plans to address the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials’ annual conference in Orlando. Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney is scheduled to speak to the group on Thursday.

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