President to Announce Executive Order on Immigration by End of August

Pushed by the recent crisis of unaccompanied minors flooding into the US via the Southwest border, President Obama again chided the House of Representatives for failure to pass immigration reform and announced he would soon release executive actions he can take to make important changes in the immigration law which Congress fails to act upon.

While he did not cite specific areas where he would exercise his executive authority, it is widely believed that he would allow certain undocumented family members currently in removal (deportation) proceedings to remain in the US upon proof of physical presence dating back several years and family ties to US citizens or lawful permanent residents.

The President said he would direct the Attorney General and head of the Department of Homeland Security to identify actions which the President can take via his executive authority to fix the broken immigration system. These recommendations are expected to be made public by the end of August.

Any executive action President Obama might take would only be a temporary fix to the broken immigration laws. Once he leaves office in 2016 the executive actions will expire unless continued by his successor.