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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Obama move gives illegal immigrants chance to stay
Rosa Maria Soto hugs Eva Monteloneo (right) after Obama's announcement. (PAT SHANNAHAN / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Barack Obama eased enforcement of immigration laws Friday, offering a chance for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S. and work. Immediately embraced by Hispanics, the extraordinary step touched off an election-year confrontation with Republicans.
The policy change will affect as many as 800,000 immigrants who have lived in fear of deportation. It bypasses Congress and partially achieves the goals of the DREAM Act, congressional legislation that would establish a path toward citizenship for young people who came to the United States illegally but attend college or join the military.
The move comes in an election year in which the Hispanic vote could be critical in toss-up states such as Colorado, Nevada and Florida that could go Republican or Democratic. While Obama enjoys support from a majority of Hispanic voters, Latino enthusiasm for the president has been tempered by the slow economic recovery, his inability to win congressional support for a broad overhaul of immigration laws and by his administration's aggressive deportation policy.
Under the administration 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 an equivalent 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.
"Let's be clear, this is not amnesty, this is not immunity, this is not a path to citizenship, this is not a permanent fix," Obama said from the White House Rose Garden. "This is the right thing to do."
Obama said the change would become effective immediately to "lift the shadow of deportation from these young people."
The step, to be carried out by the Department of Homeland Security, comes one week before Obama plans to address the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials' annual conference in Florida. Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney is to speak to the group on Thursday.
"Many of these young people have already contributed to our country in significant ways," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano wrote in a memorandum describing the administration's action. "Prosecutorial discretion, which is used in so many other areas, is especially justified here."
The policy closely tracks a proposal being drafted by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a potential vice-presidential running mate for Romney, as an alternative to the DREAM Act, formally the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act.
While many Republican lawmakers decried the move, Rubio offered a tempered response.
"Today's announcement will be welcome news for many of these kids desperate for an answer, but it is a short-term answer to a long-term problem," Rubio said in a statement.
-- The Associated Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 16, 2012 A29
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