US President Barack Obama announced plans to stop deporting and start offering work permits to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children as long as they have stayed out of trouble with the law.

Administration officials said the president used existing legal authority to make the broad policy change, which could temporarily benefit more than 800,000 young people.

He did not consult with Congress, where Republicans have generally opposed measures to benefit illegal immigrants.

The policy, while not granting any permanent legal status, clears the way for young illegal immigrants to come out of the shadows, work legally and obtain driver’s licenses and many other documents they have lacked. 

"They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper," President Obama said in announcing the new policy in the White House Rose Garden. 

He said he was taking "a temporary stopgap measure" that would "lift the shadow of deportation from these young people" and make immigration policy "more fair, more efficient and more just."
 

Source: BNA