By Solomiya Syvyk
News Editor

After the GOP failed to pass an immigration bill, President Barrack Obama took executive action on Nov.20 regarding illegal immigrants in the United States. According to his nationwide address, five million unauthorized immigrants, regardless of race and ethnicity, will be spared from deportation.

To be eligible to stay and work in this country, an immigrant must have arrived from their origin five or more years ago, be willing to register and pass a legal background check, pay a fair share of taxes, and have children who are American citizens or legal residents. As Mr.Obama said, “this is not amnesty”; although Social Security cards will be distributed after ten years of work, this proposal does not guarantee citizenship or offer the same benefits of citizens, only Congress holds the authority for such measures. “It’s very beneficial for the children of the immigrants because they did not have much say about being in this country; if parents are deported, it really isn’t fair,” said junior Natalia Bastilda.

While most Democrats praised his decision, Republicans deemed it as “unconstitutional, even imperial overreach”, wrote Brian Knowlton from the New York Times. “Obama is not bypassing Congress by making a new law, he is just changing how a current law is being implemented,” said senior David Kim.

After taking several months, with aid from advisors and secretary of Homeland Security Jeh C. Johnson, during his live State of the Union address, to conclude the extent of the president’s powers, Mr. Obama responded with, “The actions I’m taking are not only lawful, they’re the kinds of actions taken by every single Republican president and every Democratic president for the past half- century”.

Agitated with years of congressional stalemate, he added, “To those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer. Pass a bill. I want to work with both parties to pass a more permanent legislative solution”.

Besides shielding approximately half of America’s undocumented immigrants, the fifteen minute announcement included several other portions of the President’s agenda. Mr. Obama plans to direct federal agencies to place a focus on immigrants who are gang members and criminals rather than hardworking family members and present an easier and faster path for high skilled immigrants to stay in the United States.

Also, additional resources are to be provided to build on progress at the southern border and to eventually cease the illegal flow. According to Lindsey Cook from US News, “Removals- the government’s term for deportation- are up by 75 percent at the border”, since 2008. Yet, according to a Gallup survey from June, more Americans figured it is more important to deal with immigrants in the U.S. illegally than to halt the flow of the current crossings; the results showed 53 to 41 percent, with 6 percent having no opinion.

With this televised speech, Obama managed to intertwine factual evidence in support of his previous decisions in order to assure the audience of the positive future outcomes from his current stance. “He is still not doing enough. At this point he has nothing to lose, therefore he might as well go through with it,” added Kim. He began with stating that everyone knows the immigration system is broken, continued with the knowledge that this decision will help grow the economy and shrink the deficits, and ended with, “What makes us Americans is our shared commitment to an idea: that all of us are created equal and all of us have the chance to make of our lives what we will”.