Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced that effective June 15, certain young people who were brought to the United States as young children, do not present a risk to national security or public safety and meet several key criteria will be considered for relief from removal from the country or from entering into removal proceedings.
Those who demonstrate that they meet the criteria will be eligible to receive deferred action for a period of two years, subject to renewal, and will be eligible to apply for work authorization.
“Our nation’s immigration laws must be enforced in a firm and sensible manner,” Napolitano said. “But they are not designed to be blindly enforced without consideration given to the individual circumstances of each case. Nor are they designed to remove productive young people to countries where they may not have lived or even speak the language. Discretion, which is used in so many other areas, is especially justified here.”
The Department of Homeland Security continues to focus its enforcement resources on the removal of individuals who pose a national security or public safety risk, including immigrants convicted of crimes, violent criminals, felons, and repeat immigration law offenders. Today’s action further enhances the department’s ability to focus on these priority removals, according to a DHS release.
Later that day, President Barack Obama supported the announcement in a speech.
“Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine you’ve done everything right your entire life – studied hard, worked hard, maybe even
graduated at the top of your class – only to suddenly face the threat of deportation to a country that you know nothing about, with a language that you may not even speak,” Obama said.
The president went on to point out that both parties worked on the DREAM Act legislation, yet Republican Party members blocked efforts to pass the bill.
The bill hasn’t really changed. The need hasn’t changed. It’s still the right thing to do. The only thing that has changed, apparently, was the politics,” Obama said.
Hecklers interrupted the president to raise concerns in regard to home land security and unemployment.
Concerning security, Obama said that border defense has been given priority and that more individuals are guarding the border than at any time in history.
“Today, there are fewer illegal crossings than at any time in the past 40 years. We focused and used discretion about whom to prosecute, focusing on criminals who endanger our communities rather than students who are earning their education,” he said.
Obama responded to the shouted question of whether “foreigners” were infringing upon American jobs by saying that these undocumented individuals would help the economy through the added creation of business and in turn jobs.
And as long as I’m President, I will not give up on this issue, not only because it’s the right thing to do for our economy — and CEOs agree with me — not just because it’s the right thing to do for our security, but because it’s the right thing to do, period.
