Obama's Immigration Reform Plan

President Obama will be giving a speech tonight, outlining his plan to change the nation’s immigration system. This has been a very controversial topic because Conservative Republicanshighly oppose president’s plan, and accused him of exceeding authority of his office by trying to pass his immigration policy unilaterally. Senator Ted Cruz even went on to say that way President Obama is going about trying to get this legislation passed is similar to “the tactics of a monarch”. Some Republican lawmakers have even threatened to impeach or sue the President over the legislation.

With that being said, the president still plans to push for the passage of his immigration plan despite the many threats by Republicans. His plan will result in the temporary legalization of about 5 million undocumented immigrants. A large portion of these immigrants would be the immigrants who have kids that were born in the United States, and the immigrants who have been in the U.S. for a long time already and have established themselves in their communities.

Obama’s plan also has parts in it that are a kin to what Republicans desire out of immigration reform. For example, the 5 million undocumented immigrants that will be receiving temporary citizenship from the reform will not be granted citizenship or legal permanent residency. Instead they will be shielded from deportation proceedings if they pass background checks. They would receive work permits and would be assigned social security numbers so they can work and pay taxes. In addition to that, the plan also intends to deny the shielded immigrants of government healthcare benefits and public benefits like food stamps. The restrictions on healthcare and public benefit programs were most likely incorporated to appease the conservative lawmakers who already oppose the plan.