President Obama today announced an end to deportations of undocumented immigrants eligible for the congressional DREAM Act. The DREAM Act provided a path to citizenship for young immigrants who meet certain conditions, although it failed to pass Congress.
Obama’s plan affects those who came to the United States when they were younger than sixteen but are still under thirty, have no criminal history, and either served in the military or graduated from high school. It also allows them to repeatedly apply for two-year work permits. The decision will go into effect immediately and apply to as many as eight hundred thousand immigrants. President Obama stated that this decision was neither amnesty nor a path to citizenship, but a short term solution.
For more, KBOO’s Zeke Harrington spoke with Reyna Lopez from CAUSA, Oregon’s Immigrant rights Organization.
- KBOO