Counting to 5 Million
The most likely scenarios for Obama’s overhaul of the U.S. immigration system, charted.
Interactive by Chris Kirk. Source: Migration Policy Institute.
President Obama is set to announce his long-promised immigration overhaul on Thursday night, an executive action that is expected to grant temporary legal status to as many as 5 million unauthorized immigrants. How the plan reaches that total, though, will depend on where Obama sets the bar for entry into each eligible group. Take parents of U.S. citizens, one of the largest demographics likely to be affected by the president’s plan. If Obama were to expand that group to include parents of U.S. citizens and green card holders, the number of eligible immigrants would grow by more than 1 million. Within that group, where Obama sets the threshold for how long someone needs to have lived the country—15 years? 10? Five?—will have a sweeping effect on how many people qualify. The chart below, based on data from the Migration Policy Institute, will give you an idea of just how many immigrants would be protected under a variety of combinations of the most likely criteria.
Alongside these scenarios, Obama is also considering relaxing the eligibility requirements for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which he created in 2012 to allow so-called Dreamers to apply for work permits and reprieves from deportation. Eliminating the program’s maximum age of 30, for example, would make 1.1 million additional people eligible for the program, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
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