WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- President Obama is expected to announce plans to overhaul U.S. immigration policy as early as next week, including suspending the deportations of millions of undocumented immigrants.
According to officials with knowledge of the president's plans, the administration will order changes to the nation's immigration enforcement. The order will allow parents of children who are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants to obtain work documentation.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters traveling with the president in Burma on Thursday that Obama had not yet made a final decision and no announcement would be made until he returned to Washington on Sunday.
It is not entirely clear how broad the new policy will be, and could affect anywhere from the 2.5 million people who have been living in the U.S. for at least 10 years to 5 million people with U.S.-born children.
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The deferral program -- similar to one for young people who were brought to the U.S. as children, which has been in place since 2012 -- is the central component of a plan that will include other initiatives such as boosting border security and raising immigration officers' pay.
Obama's plan may also expand on that 2012 program, to allow more young undocumented people as well as their parents to stay.
Whatever the specifics of the administration's plan, it is sure to face significant opposition from the Republican-controlled Congress.
On Nov. 5, the day following midterm elections, a triumphant House Speaker John Boehner warned Obama that he risked "burning himself" if he took executive action to overhaul immigration.
"I've made clear to the president that if he acts unilaterally, on his own, outside his authority, he will poison the well, and there will be no chance for immigration reform moving in this Congress," he said.
And on Saturday, tea party Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Mike Lee, R-Utah, threatened to block the confirmation of Loretta Lynch, Obama's nominee to replace Eric Holder as attorney general if the president moves forward with an executive action.
But the president has faced strong pressure from lawmakers of his own party, particularly in the House, where Democrats in the minority pleaded with the GOP leadership to allow a vote on a Senate-passed immigration bill.
"We're begging the president. Go big," said Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif. "These people are a plus to our nation. Mr. President, please. You said you were going to do something. Do it. Act now."
