On November 21, 2014, President Obama announced that he would be issuing an executive order that would defer the deportation of millions of people who do not have legal status to be in the United States.    

To qualify for deferred action under the executive order, a person must meet the following conditions:

1.      Must have been in the U.S. for at least 5 years,

2.      Must have at least 1 child who is either a U.S. citizen or a legal resident;

3.      Must register;

4.      Pass a criminal background test; and

5.      Pay taxes.

Although the executive order would not provide citizenship or the right to remain in the U.S. permanently, it wouldallow approximately four million people here illegally to work, to pay taxes, and to live without fear of deportation. As President Obama stated in his speech, only Congress has the power to grant citizenship or the right to remain permanently.

This executive order builds upon President Obama’s 2012 executive order known as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). As in the present executive order, DACA prevented the deportation of people without legal status to be in the U.S. and arrived here as children. To be eligible for DACA, the applicant had to be younger than 30 years of age.

On February 16, 2015, a federal judge in the Southern District of Texas granted an injunction in favor of several attorneys general who are challenging the executive order in federal court. He ruled that there was a reasonable likelihood that they will be able to prove that the executive order is unconstitutional. By his injunction, the judge prevented the president’s order from going into effect. The Obama administration has formally asked the judge to lift the stay pending appeal. It is expected that the judge will deny this request and that the executive order will be stayed until the matter is decided by an appellate federal court.

A comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. immigration laws is needed. The U.S. Senate actually passed such a bill in 2013. It was widely seen as a balanced compromise to the immigration problem and was voted for by many Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. President Obama was also in favor of the bill. However, the bill was not brought to a vote in the House. Although there appeared to be more than enough votes to pass it in the House, Speaker Boehner refused to bring it to a vote, because a majority of Republicans were not in favor of the bill.

Eventually the courts will decide that President Obama’s 2014 immigration order is constitutional and will allow it to be implemented. However, due to the position of the Republican Party, it is very unlikely that immigration reform will be passed in the foreseeable future.

The best chance for immigration reform would be if the Democrats keep the presidency in 2016, win control of the House, and get at least 60 members in the Senate.  Unfortunately, this seems very unlikely.  Another possibility is that the Republican leadership allows a vote on an immigration bill, such as the bill of 2013. Since I do not expect either scenario to happen, I do not expect any solutions to our immigration problems for a long time to come.