Eligible immigrants will now receive “deferred action,” which essentially means a two-year reprieve from deportation along with the chance to apply for a work permit. The decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis, and officials said Friday that not everyone granted the reprieve will immediately gain the right to work.
The deferral will be available to immigrants who can prove that they came to the United States when they were younger than 16, have lived in the country continuously for at least five years and are currently in the country. They must be in school, have graduated from high school, have obtained a general education development certificate, or be honorably discharged veterans of the military or the Coast Guard.
They also must not be older than 30 and must never have been convicted of a felony, a significant misdemeanor, multiple misdemeanor offenses or otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety.
The change was not imposed by executive order. Instead, it effectively extends an existing policy of “prosecutorial discretion,” in which immigration officials last year were instructed to prioritize the removal of felons, repeat border crossers and others considered to be security risks. Officials said the government would continue its aggressive enforcement policies but with greater care not to remove young people who came as children.
The administration announced the new policy a week before Obama was scheduled to address the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials’ annual conference near Orlando. Romney is scheduled to speak to the group Thursday, as are Rubio and former Florida governor Jeb Bush, a Dream Act supporter who has also urged the GOP to soften its rhetoric on immigration. It also comes in advance of a Supreme Court ruling on the controversial Arizona immigration law.
Arturo Vargas, executive director of the NALEO group, said Friday he was unsure whether the policy would have the effect that advocates had hoped for, noting that immigrants would have to step forward to apply with no guarantee of success.
“People are getting more excited than what really is there,” Vargas said.
Still, the response Friday was overwhelmingly positive from immigration advocates, particularly those who had personally sparred with Obama over the past two years.
“If what we heard [Friday] is exactly what happens, it was about time,” said Angelica Salas, a Los Angeles-based activist who first confronted Obama about the deportations during a March 2010 meeting in the Roosevelt Room.
Obama is “putting his political power behind this,” said Gaby Pacheco, 27, an activist who came to the United States from Ecuador when she was 7 and went on to graduate from college and prepare for a career in teaching. ”We’re close to an election, and so I don’t think that they’re going to mess this up.”
Pacheco, who had been working with Rubio on his legislation, said she planned on applying for the “deferred action” reprieve. She hoped the policy would pressure Congress to act.
“It’s inevitable for us to eventually become citizens of this country,” she said.
And if that happens, said Pacheco, who lives in Miami, she might just run for Congress someday.
Staff writer Philip Rucker contributed to this report.
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