Obama Takes Executive Action: Focuses on Keeping Families Together, Streamling Employment-Based Work Authorization

Maggio Kattar

On November 20, 2014, President Obama spoke to the nation to announce Executive Action on immigration matters affecting individuals, families and businesses in the United States. In opening his address, President Obama noted that when he took office he committed to fixing the broken immigration system. He began to do so by securing the border. The number of unlawful crossings is down by half and has reached its lowest level since the 1970s. The deportation of criminal noncitizens is up by 80%. The President stated that the government must take steps to deal responsibly with the millions of undocumented people in the United States. It is simply not realistic to deport millions of people, the majority of whom are hard-working men and women who came to the United States to make a better life for themselves and their families. In light of this, the Administration will focus its enforcement efforts against those who are not welcome, criminals not children, gang members not mothers.

During his address to the nation, President Obama announced the Administration’s intention to focus its enforcement priorities on those who pose a threat to the United States while at the same time creating a program to ensure family unity and to retain and facilitate the entry highly-skilled talent to work and contribute to the U.S. economy. Below is a snapshot of the actions announced by the President as part of his executive authority relating to immigration matters:

  • The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program will be expanded to include young people who came to this country before turning 16 years old and who have been continuously resident in the United States since January 1, 2010. It extends the period of DACA and work authorization from two years to three years. The current age “cap” will be eliminated. This expansion of DACA should be running within approximately 90 days.
  • Parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) (of any age) who have been in the country since January 1, 2010, will be able to request deferred action and employment authorization for three years, provided that they pass required background checks and pay taxes. This deferred action program for parents of citizens and green card holders should be running in approximately 180 days.
  • The provisional waiver program for waiving unlawful presence will be expanded to allow waiver applications by the spouses and the adult sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents, as well as the adult sons and daughters of U.S. citizens. Currently, only spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens are allowed to apply for a provisional waiver if a visa is available. Further guidance on the waiver program will be provided in the coming months, including a clarification on the “extreme hardship” standard for approval of the waiver. Until that time, the spouses and adult sons and daughters of LPRs and the adult son and daughters of U.S. citizens cannot yet apply.
  • Individuals with an approved employment-based immigrant petition who are caught in the quota backlogs for filing adjustment of status applications may soon be able to obtain the benefits of a pending adjustment, such as a work permit.

It is important to note, however, that none of these proposed changes is yet up and running, and that the agencies involved are in the process of finalizing procedures for being able to receive and process actual applications.

The White House has created a web page with resources on the Executive Action . USCIS has also posted a summary of USCIS actions related to these directives.