The President's Immigration Action

What did Obama’s memorandum on immigration actually do?  The memorandum provided additional resources to help law enforcement stem the flow of illegal crossings into the U. S. and placed more emphasize on finding and deporting criminals.  However the most contentious part of the action is that the president’s plan would

-          offers undocumented immigrants, who are parents of U. S. citizens or permanent residents who have been in the U. S. more that 5 years, the opportunity to remain temporarily within the U. S. without fear of deportation and

-          allows those individuals that were brought to the U. S. illegally as children under the age of 16, to avoid  deportation (which is a continuation of Obama 2012 policy).  

In order to qualify for this temporary stay from deportation, the applicant must register, pass a criminal background check and pay their back taxes.  Also the memorandum does not grant citizenship or permanent status but they can seek citizenship through other procedures. This action will permit approximately 4 to 5 million (no one knows for sure) illegal immigrants to remain in the U. S.