On Wednesday, an executive order will come into effect that could prevent the deportation of up to 1.5 million young illegal immigrants, Chris Matthews reported on Tuesday's Hardball. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which President Obama created by executive order in mid-June, makes it so that eligible immigrants can apply to defer deportation and obtain work permits.
Eligible immigrants are those who arrived illegally in the United States before they were 16 years old, are now between the ages of 15 and 30, and have been living in the United States for at least five years. Additionally, they must be either students, high school graduates, or honorably discharged service members.
Obama's executive order was intended to mimic the effects of the DREAM Act, a piece of proposed legislation which would have also granted exemption from deportation for eligible illegal immigrants. That legislation passed the House, but never made it through the Senate.
NBC News contributor Victoria DeFranceso Soto said that Obama created the deferred action program in order to mobilize Latino supporters in the upcoming election.
"The President needs Latinos to turn out," she said. "He doesn't have a problem with their favorability; Latinos have consistently approved of the President. But what he needs is them to be enthusiastic getting out to the polls come November."
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Hooray for our President! They can say what they want about the expediency of the action but R's sank the Dream Act so they have no one to blame but themselves.
The Hispanic community is solidly behind President Obama's policy of letting the Dream kids stay in America. The Dream Act is a common sense bill that should have been signed into law two years ago but the GOP Senators filibustered this bill. I think in many ways this filibuster is one of the most unconscionable act ever taken by a public official. Most countries protect the children that have been raised in their respective societies because morally it is the correct thing to do. The Dream Kids are America's children. The GOP Senator's who filibustered the Dream Act in 2010 just urinated on these Dream kids and their hard working families for no reason. Shame on the GOP Senators who committed this petty and senseless act on young adults who are America's sons and daughters.