President Obama has time after time said that he is counting on Congress to pass a Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill that he could then sign (let’s not forget though that his administration has deported the most undocumented immigrants).At the same time, undocumented youth organizers from all across the nation (e.g. check out the Not1More campaign) know that our communities should not and cannot wait. Thus, we have been increasingly urging President Barack Obama to use his executive powers and take action on immigration, and ultimately expand DACA to all undocumented immigrants. What we hoped would have happen even before the November 2014 Congress elections, got pushed back to- today.

Last night, President Barack Obama announced that he will be taking executive action on immigration. Today at 8pm EST/5pm PST, he will announce who is eligible and what type of relief eligible-undocumented folks will receive. Tomorrow, Friday 11/21/14, President Obama will reveal additional details (such as the application process, costs, etc) during his speech in Vegas. Where can you watch today’s announcement? For online and offline (TV channels) options, check out Colorlines’ “How To Watch President Obama’s Immigration Announcement”. Also, United We Dream will be hosting a virtual community gathering to answer questions you may have after the announcement (English and Spanish sessions are both available), sign up here: http://unitedwedream.org/executiveaction/?source=fb3

Please do not forget that the work does not stop with this announcement. As undocumented immigrants and supporters, it is our responsibility to continue organizing with, and for, our communities. As we learned with DACA, no immigration policy is/will be enough… it can certainly serve as a step depending of course on the nature of the policy, but for as long as immigration policies have categories to “include” people, by default- many more undocumented folks will be excluded in the present and future. To get involved, please check out the work of leading national organizations, such as United We Dream, the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, Dream Activist, and also of course organizations at the local and state levels.

For more information on the announcement and speculations on who may be able to benefit, check out:

Estimates from the Migration Policy Institute about the number of undocumented folks that could potentially benefit from the different scenarios that Obama will announce today “Obama’s Immigration Plan Could Affect Millions”

(In Spanish) “Obama anuncia el jueves a las 8pm ET accion ejecutiva para millones de indocumentados”

(4:20pm Update) Just leaked from the National Immigrant Youth Alliance:

“White House Details on Anticipated Administrative Relief“

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Categories: News

Tags: DACA, Immigration, undocumented