Obama addresses voters | Flickr Creative Commons
President Obama announced Thursday executive actions that will remove the threat of deportation and grant work permits to as many as five million undocumented immigrants. This will apply to parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who have been in the country for five years or more. Obama also expanded his 2012 action which authorized young people who came to the United States as children to remain legally in the country, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
Since Congress has stagnated for years on creating immigration reform that changes laws and a path to citizenship, Obama issued the reform with his own presidential authority.
“The Senate passed a bipartisan bill more than 500 days ago, and while the country waits for House Republicans to vote, the President will act — like the Presidents before him — to fix our immigration system in the ways that he can,” White House Press Secretary Josh Ernest said in a statement on WhiteHouse.gov.
We asked South L.A. resident and Reporter Corps contributor Miguel Molina — a participant of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — to weigh in with his thoughts:
“President Barack Obama’s executive action gave me hope for a better tomorrow. My parents will qualify from this administrative relief thanks to my young U.S sister and brother. My neighbor who took care of me when I was young will also benefit from President Obama’s program. I’m happy to see that after years of fighting to stop deportations Obama got the courage to act. The executive action is a small step forward towards our goal to end deportations and it gives hope to our community for a comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship in order for the immigrant community to stop being second class citizens.”
What do you think? Vote in our poll and share your own opinion. Keep scrolling for comments from readers of our sister publication, Alhambra Source.
“It’s a matter [President Obama] should be taking on. The U.S. was founded by immigrants and it’s not fair to target Mexicans. We all came here illegally. I feel like we still have issues of inequality and segregation.” -Yvonne Guerrero, Alhambra resident and East L.A. College student
“It doesn’t really bother me that illegal immigrants are here. It’s a tough situation. I dont know how you seperate the families staying here from the criminals staying here. It should be easier to get citizenship. My best friend came here when he was 2 years old and it took him over 25 years to get citizenship.” -Lidia Valencia, Highland Park resident and Pasadena Community College student
“That’s a good thing. I always thought deportation was a sensitive issue. My family came here illegally and they got the chance to work. I feel like the Asian population doesn’t face the same discrimination Latinos do. I still have relatives that are good citizens but they aren’t citizens.” -Debby Chung, Glendale resident and medical student
“I hope they can get the paper work for these people because they help the economy. Citizens think immigrants are taking our jobs but it’s not true. They do the low paying, hard working jobs.” -Ed Suarez, Los Angeles resident
“Honestly, it’s about time they do something about it. My parents aren’t from here and it’s hard for them to work. I’m glad they’re talking about it.” -Jazmine Suarez, San Gabriel resident and Everest student
“That’s good. I know people who would benefit from that…I have family [who live here illegally]. I’ve had family members deported. It’s a pretty crappy situation.” -Mario Camarena, San Diego resident and musician
“It’s good, especially after what happened in Murieta.” -Eric Hansel, Menifee resident and musician
See also: Why I should get in-state tuition as an undocumented student
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