Politics & Government

Do You Agree With President Obama's Immigration Policy?

President Obama's immigration policy will allow young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally to seek work permits.

The Obama administration announced it will no longer deport younger immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally when they were children and will begin issuing work permits to them, The Huffington Post reports.

The permits only would be available to individuals who had led law-abiding lives, the website reported. As many as 800,000 people could be affected by the policy change.

"Today, I am announcing that effective immediately, young people brought to U.S. by no fault of their own and meet several criteria no longer are removed from country or entered into removal proceedings,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said to Fox News.

Find out what's happening in Hazelwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Fox News reported immigrants will have had to live in the U.S. for five years, be younger than 30, and have arrived before they turned 16 to qualify.

The Los Angeles Times reported House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said the policy change "ignores the rule of law that is the foundation of our democracy. This huge policy shift has horrible consequences for unemployed Americans looking for jobs and violates President Obama’s oath to uphold the laws of this land."

Find out what's happening in Hazelwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Florida Congressman Allen West told Fox News that the policy change was an example of "executive overreach." West told Fox that the change should have been debated as legislation by Congress.

The policy change accomplishes many of the goals of the DREAM Act, which passed the House in 2010 but stalled in the Senate, The Huffington Post reported.

What do you think of the president's actions? Should young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally be allowed work permits? Or do you agree with Congressman Smith, who said this policy shift will have horrible consequences for the unemployed in America? 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Hazelwood