Illegal immigration is termed as a movement of people into a country in violation of its prevalent immigration laws and statutes. With increasing income disparity between the developed and developing nations along with natural disasters, civil uprising, religious persecution, terrorism and war, illegal immigration has emerged as a major source of controversy in large parts of the developed world, raising political, social, economic and legal issues. This holds true for the United States as there is now an estimated 11.4 million illegal immigrants living within our borders according to the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as of January 20121.
On November 20th, 2014, in an attempt to curtail rising populations
of illegal immigrants, President Obama announced a series of executive actions starting with a crackdown on illegal immigration at the border. In addition, the executive actions also outlined a policy that prioritizes the deportation of felons not families, and it also requires certain undocumented immigrants to pass a criminal background check and to pay taxes in order to temporarily stay in the U.S. without fear of deportation. The goal of the President’s action was aimed at expanding the population that would be eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) to people of any current age who entered the United States before the age of 16 and lived in the United States continuously since January 1, 2010, and extending the period of DACA and work authorization from two years to three years. The President’s action also included allowing parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to request deferred action and employment authorization for three years, in a new Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents program (DAPA), provided they have lived in the United States continuously since January 1, 2010, and pass required background checks.
However, before discussing the President’s executive actions and their possible effects on the citizens of this nation, it would be wise to first discuss the historical development of our current immigration policies.