"The Obama administration will stop deporting and begin giving work permits to younger illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have since led law-abiding lives," The Associated Press is reporting.
According to the wire service:
"The administration's decision will affect as many as 800,000 immigrants. Two senior administration officials described the plan on condition of anonymity ahead of its expected announcement Friday.
"Illegal immigrants will avoid deportation and be eligible for work permits if they arrived in the U.S. before age 16, are younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have no criminal history, graduated from a U.S. high school or earned a GED, or served in the military."
As NPR's Corey Dade wrote earlier this week on It's All Politics, previously supportive groups have been highly critical in recent weeks of what they see as up-to-now a failed effort by the administration to reduce the deportations of otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants
