On May 10, 2011, United States President Barack Obama delivered a speech in El Paso, Texas on "comprehensive immigration reform" in which he characterized the country's immigration system as "broken". In the same speech, he said it was necessary to pass the DREAM Act, a bill that would have provided an avenue to legitimate citizenship for some undocumented immigrants, and would have shaped immigration policy. The DREAM Act was defeated in Congress late last year.
This month, the Obama administration used its executive authority to advise immigration officials to use discretion in their deportation decisions, prioritizing immigrants who have committed crimes or are a threat to public safety. This direction gives a subtle advantage to some undocumented immigrants (war veterans, students, and those who arrived as children, among others) -- exactly the group of people the DREAM Act would benefit.
In a June 17 memo, Director of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement John Morton set out 19 factors for officials to consider. However, the memo also explicitly states that no group is categorically excluded from deportation.
This article relied heavily on "Obama DREAMs On", published on Monday, June 27 on Mother Jones. Read the entire piece here.
