Obama administration to stop deporting some young illegal immigrants

Washington, D.C., United States (4E) – The Obama administration on Friday announced it would stop deporting certain young illegal immigrants.

Obama set out the criteria that allows people who were brought to the United States as children to remain.

The policy covers people under the age of 30 who came here before they were 16 years old, provided they do not pose a security or criminal threat, and they were successful students or served in the military.

Illegal immigrants who meet those criteria will be allowed to apply for work permits.

The election year policy change could affect as many as 1 million undocumented students living in the country.

President Barack Obama is expected to make a formal announcement of his program in the Rose Garden of the White House sometime Friday afternoon.

Proponents of the plan say that allowing young undocumented college-educated immigrants to remain in the country will help ease an expected shortfall of college-educated workers of about 16 million by 2025.

Critics of the plan point to the fact many college-educated American citizens lost their jobs during the recession and still haven’t been rehired, as well as the fact that for the past five years about 50 percent of all students graduating from colleges have been unable to find jobs or are forced to work in jobs that do not require college degrees.

In addition, 60 percent of recent college graduates cannot find jobs in their field.

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