The United States of America, the land of opportunities and immigrants, have over decades become home to 11 million illegal immigrants. All through their stay in the country they feared deportation, separation from their families, losing their jobs, and everything else they call theirs in America.
Finally, here's some relief for a 5 million of them. President Obama on Thursday announced the much awaited executive action on immigration to prevent deportation of undocumented and illegal immigrants from the country.
President Obama gave an overwhelming speech on the immigration reform. In which he said, "It’s been this way for decades. And for decades, we haven’t done much about it."
The move is likely to benefit the parents of the US Citizens and permanent citizens who have lived in the country for five plus years; tech workers and entrepreneurs struggling to get legal work permit visas due to cap on tech visas; and the young people who came to the US as children but have no legal status now.
USA has 450,000 illegal immigrants from India, including thousands of high-skilled tech workers, farm workers, and others. In the coming days, India will closely scrutinize the reforms as it has a direct impact on its IT industry.
Michele Bachmann, a Republican Lawmaker, not really happy with the reform said, “The social cost will be profound on the US taxpayer -millions of unskilled, illiterate, foreign nationals coming into the US who can't speak the English language.“ But went on to say that “Even though the president says they won't be able to vote, we all know that many, in all likelihood, will vote.“
There are celebrations in some immigrant groups, others are disappointed for they are not included in the plan announced by President Obama. With all emotions running high in the immigrant community in the US, the ball is now in the Congress' court.
President Obama have asked the Congress to pass the bill. He said, "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."
Source: Times of India, First Post
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