Obama's Executive Action On Immigration Elicits Praise And Anger
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NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Maria Robles is overcome by emotion. On one hand, she's disappointed, saying President Obama's executive action on immigration doesn't go far enough.
At a news conference held by immigration activists Friday, Robles says, "President Obama, by far, this is not what I was personally waiting for."
On the other hand, she's thankful it will help her husband whose lived in the U.S. illegally for 25 years. Robles says, "My husband will finally be able to come out of the shadows. I've never seen that kind of expression on my husband's face."
Under the President's order, more than 5 million people here illegally who have lived in the U.S. for five years or longer won't face deportation and can get temporary work permits as long as they don't have criminal records.
Leaders with Catholic Charities of Dallas say they expect to help thousands of people in North Texas file papers in immigration court. "We may be looking at 25,000 to 27,000 people that we will help here at Catholic Charities."
Katrina Pierson of the Garland Tea Party, and a former candidate for Congress, believes the President's action will attract more illegal immigrants to Texas. "This is extremely concerning for the people of Texas. We're going to see more children coming, they're going to want their parents to come and we've already seen the impact on our social services, in our state health services, and that's going to just get worse."
As for Maria Robles, she hoped she personally would have benefited from the President's action but isn't.
While her mother and sister became U.S. citizens in 1995, a paperwork issue has prevented her from becoming a citizen all these years.
She cried at the news conference saying, "I remain in limbo for 27 years now." Robles says another problem with the new executive action is that it's temporary and could change after President Obama leaves office in January, 2017.
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