In 2012 there were an estimated 11.7 million undocumented migrants in the US. Of these, about 1.2 million are already eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program. Daca, introduced by the Obama administration in 2012, allows young migrants who meet certain criteria to be protected from deportation and apply to work in the US, on a temporary basis.
On Thursday, President Obama is expected to announce new measures that will shield up to 4m more people from deportation. It isn’t the first time a president uses an executive order to act on the matter of immigration. Two Republican presidents before him – Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr – did so too, and for similar reasons that Obama will.
The main difference in Obama’s executive order is likely to be the scale of Thursday’s intervention, and the fact that the president’s action comes as a consequence of Congress inaction.
Here is a look at the likely numbers behind Obama’s executive action:
The president’s plan will affect states differently
According to a report by the University of South California, about half of the California residents in the country without papers have been in the state for at least 10 years.
Using data from the Migration Policy Institute, here is a look at undocumented immigration by state:
