Nov. 21--More than 1 million immigrant parents in California will be eligible for deportation relief under President Obama's deferred action program, according to a Pew Research Center Study.
Obama's executive action would allow many immigrants who live in the U.S. illegally and have children who are citizens or permanent residents to apply for a work permit and three years of protection from deportation.
Among the 10 states with the most number of parents who are here illegally, California is by far the leader, as the graphic shows. Coming in second is Texas, with a little more than half a million.
In California, 51% of immigrants without legal status are now eligible for relief.
Obama's order also expands his 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, opening it up to those who immigrated as recently as 2010 and removing an age cap. Before the expansion, the program was limited to immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children before June 2007.
According to Pew Research, 925,000 people would be newly eligible for protection in California.
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