White House readying to launch controversial immigration program

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Millions of undocumented immigrants are expected to apply for a temporary reprieve from deportation beginning next week, opening the floodgates to one of President Barack Obama's most contentious actions.

The expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program will open for applications on Feb. 18 for undocumented immigrants who have lived in the United States since Jan. 1, 2010, and since before turning 16. A second program, the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans, will start by late May. The expansions are part of the program that originally started in 2012 as an executive order.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services expects up to 1.3 million people will apply in the first six months beginning in May, putting an added strain on an agency that already handles more than 6 million other applications annually.

"The cost of implementing the president's executive actions will be $324 million to $484 million over the next three years," according to a draft of a letter from Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson obtained by The Los Angeles Times.

Citizenship and Immigration Services recently launched a website and fliers in English, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Spanish to explain the program.

At the same time, officials are keeping a close eye on a Texas federal courthouse, where a judge is considering a challenge against the plans from 26 states and attempts by congressional Republicans to defund the programs.