Report: Obama plan could shield 140,000 in Georgia from deportation

The LAA bills itself as the largest immigration legal service that provides for Atlanta’s Latin American community.

Learn more about the president’s plan here: http://www.uscis.gov/immigrationaction.

An estimated 140,000 immigrants living illegally in Georgia could be eligible for relief under a controversial plan President Barack Obama announced last month to shield millions of people from deportation, a new report shows.

The Pew Research Center report — based on census data — says that number represents more than one-third of the estimated 400,000 immigrants who were living without legal status in Georgia in 2012.

Georgia ranks sixth among states for its share of people who could benefit from Obama’s actions, the Pew report says. California ranks first at 950,000, followed by Texas, 675,000; Florida, 210,000; Illinois, 200,000; and New York, 200,000.

The president’s plan has drawn a mixture of praise and scorn from Georgia and across the nation. Republican critics in Congress are vowing to reverse the president’s actions, calling them illegal. In contrast, immigrant rights activists say Obama is acting legally to keep families together in the U.S.

The centerpiece of Obama’s plan provides work permits and three-year deportation deferrals for people who don’t have legal status but do have children who were born here or are legal permanent residents. To be eligible, they must have lived in the U.S. for at least five years, submit to background checks and pay taxes. More than 4 million people would be eligible nationwide.

Carlos Medina of Marietta is among those who could be eligible. A native of Mexico, he has lived in the U.S. for 14 years and has children who are U.S. citizens. Medina praised the president last month after watching Obama’s televised announcement with friends at the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights headquarters in Atlanta.

“He finally took action that we have been fighting for for many years,” Medina said moments after the president finished his speech. “I’m happy for my friends. We have stayed firm.”

Meanwhile, the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee is set to hold a hearing at 1 p.m. Tuesday titled “President Obama’s executive overreach on immigration.”

“The president’s decision to recklessly forge ahead with a plan to change our immigration laws on his own ignores the will of the American people and flouts the Constitution,” U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, the Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said in a prepared statement Monday. “These actions create an untold number of consequences; most significantly, they tilt the separation of powers in the president’s favor and imperil individual liberty.”

Obama’s plan also expands a program granting temporary deportation deferrals and work permits to immigrants who were illegally brought here as children. The move eliminates the age cap in the program — which was 31 — and requires them to have continually resided in the U.S. from January 2010 to the present, a change from June 2007. The White House estimated 270,000 more people would qualify. It’s unknown how many people would be affected in Georgia. But since 2012, 19,009 Georgians have been approved for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Atlanta-area nonprofit groups and attorneys are now scrambling to help immigrants such as Medina figure out whether they are eligible for relief under the president’s plan. For example, the Latin American Association — which provides legal services to immigrants — announced Monday that it will hold four more public information sessions about the president’s executive action. Hundreds attended similar sessions that the association held last month.

The events are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Latin American Association’s headquarters in Atlanta, 2750 Buford Highway Northeast; Saturday at 9 a.m. at the Norcross Cultural Arts and Community Center, 10 College St. in Norcross; and Dec. 13 at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at Norcross First Methodist Church, 2500 Beaver Ruin Road in Norcross.