President Barack Obama plans to announce as early as next week a plan to overhaul U.S. immigration policy through executive action, including suspending deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants, Fox News reported on Wednesday.
The network, citing a source close to the White House, said a 10-part plan could be announced as early as Nov. 21 and would expand a policy of deferring action on deportation of illegal immigrants who came to the country as children, as well as for parents of U.S. citizens and permanent legal residents.
That provision could let up to 4.5 million undocumented immigrants with U.S.-born children remain in the country, Fox News said, citing estimates.
Other parts of the plan would include bolstering border security and pay increases for immigration officers, the network said.
White House spokesman Shawn Turner, asked for comment on the report, said: "The president has still not made a decision regarding exactly when he'll make an announcement about executive action to fix our broken immigration system, but he remains committed to taking action before the end of the year."
Obama told congressional leaders last Friday he was committed to using executive powers to ease some restrictions on undocumented immigrants since Republicans in the House of Representatives had refused to advance immigration legislation.
Any unilateral action promises to draw the ire of Republicans in Congress. John Barrasso, the No. 4 Republican in the Senate, said in an interview on Friday that members of Congress had told Obama that would be a "toxic decision."
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