Obama executive order to OK temporary stay by parents of US citizens and legal permanent residents
President Barack Obama. Mykhaylo Palinchak / Shutterstock.com
Even before President Barack Obama gave a speech Thursday announcing a plan to allow up to 5 million of the country’s 11 million undocumented residents to obtain legal status in the U.S., those who thought they might fall within its parameters were flooding immigration attorneys with phone calls.
Because of the president’s expected executive action, California immigration attorney Annaluisa Padilla said she was getting twice as many phone calls as usual, the Associated Press reported.
“It’s like the golden ticket,” she said. “Everybody who is calling my office is asking how can I get a work permit under Obama’s program?”
An overview of the president’s immigration reform plan was provided in a Thursday press release by the White House and an advance copy of the speech released to the media two hours beforehand.
The press release calls for increased border enforcement, deporting felons rather than families and allowing parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents permission to stay here temporarily if they register, pass cirminal and national security background checks and pay their fair share of taxes. In his prepared remarks, Obama says similar “deferred action” will be granted to young people who had come to this country as of 2010, Fox News reported Thursday.
Because of opposition in Congress, however, at least one attorney is cautioning would-be legal residents not to get their hopes up too high, the AP article reports.
“What I am telling my families to do is be prepared for war. We’re going to see a legislative arm do whatever they can to stop the president,” said immigration attorney Jessica Dominguez, who also practices in California. “I am not going to let my community be saddened again by words. We need action.”
The executive order on immigration signed by Obama is “one step toward a better functioning, more realistic and humane system,” ABA President William Hubbard said in a statement Friday.
“Our immigration policy is broken, and a more systemic and a long-term solution through legislation is required,” Hubbard said. “ABA policy supports legal immigration based on family reunification and employment skills, due process safeguards in immigration and asylum adjudications and judicial review of such decisions.”
Related coverage:
Slatest: “Congressman: Obama’s Immigration Move Could Prompt Impeachment, Prison Time”
USA Today: “GOP senator warns of violence after immigration order”
Wall Street Journal (sub. req.): “GOP Split on How to Respond to Obama’s Immigration Move”
Washington Post (reg. req., opinion): “Decision Day: The stupidity stops here”
Updated Nov. 21 to include a statement by ABA President William C. Hubbard.
