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US President Barack Obama has eased enforcement of immigration laws, offering a chance for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to stay in the country and work. The extraordinary step, immediately embraced by Hispanics, touched off an election-year confrontation with congressional Republicans. "This is not amnesty; this is not immunity; this is not a path to citizenship; it's not a permanent fix. This is a temporary stopgap measure that lets us focus our resources wisely while giving a degree of relief and hope to talented, driven, patriotic young people. It is the right thing to do," CBS news quoted Obama, as saying. The policy change which will affect as many as 800,000 immigrants who have lived in fear of deportation and bypassing Congress, partially achieves the goals of the "DREAM Act" congressional legislation that would establish a path toward citizenship for young people who came to the United States illegally, but who attended college or joined the military, the report said. Under the administration plan, illegal immigrants will be immune from deportation if they were brought to the United States before they turned 16 and 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, it added.

Obama eases deportation laws to allow thousands of illegal immigrants to stay in country