WASHINGTON — The immigration reform plan that President Barack Obama plans to outline on Thursday will shift enforcement focus to deporting undocumented immigrants deemed risks to national security or public safety, but will aim to protect families, the White House said.
The plan, laid out by senior White House officials in advance of Obama’s 8 p.m. speech, will emphasize the need to deport terrorism suspects, violent criminal and gang members. Law enforcement resources will be shifted from the U.S. interior to the southern border with Mexico.
People who have crossed the U.S. border this year will not qualify for relief from deportation. Obama’s order to protect undocumented parents of U.S. citizens from deportation will apply to immigrants who have been in the country for at least five years, the White House said.
People will have the opportunity to request temporary relief from deportation and get permission to work for three years at a time if they come forward and register, submit biometric data, pass background checks and pay fees, the White House said.
Obama also warned would-be border crossers that his actions, though they protect millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation, would not protect them.
“If you plan to enter the U.S. illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up,” Obama said.
Obama believes his immigration plan can sustain a legal challenge threatened by Republicans, based on similar past presidential actions going back to Dwight Eisenhower’s presidency in the 1950s, senior administration officials said.
Obama is expected to tell Republican lawmakers angry about with what he called “commonsense” executive immigration actions that they should “pass a bill,” according to excerpts released by the White House.
“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,” Obama said in his prepared remarks.