"Scripture tells us that we shall not oppress a stranger, for we know the heart of a stranger – we were strangers once, too."
--Barack Obama (full transcript of speech here)
To summarize the President's executive action:
1. The US has never had a plan to deport all 11 million undocumented persons currently residing in the US.
2. Congress has given enough funding to deport about 400,000 persons annually. The Obama administration has been faithfully doing that work and will continue to do so. In fact, the Obama administration does this work so well leading immigration activists have called Obama "Deporter in Chief" as his administration is deporting at a higher rate than what was seen under George W. Bush.
3. Obama's executive action is a plan to move away from random deportation to a selective deportation in order to not break up families. It's not a "how many?" will be deported but a "whom shall be deported?".
4. Per the discretionary power of the Executive branch, it is perfectly legal for the US President to decide which 400,000 will be deported annually, the priority now focused upon recent immigrants, those with criminal histories and those who pose national security risks.
