Q&A: Which immigrants exactly is Obama helping out?

What did President Obama announce about immigration last night?

In a televised address from the White House, Mr Obama announced a series of executive orders allowing about five million illegal immigrants to remain in the US by protecting them from being deported back to their home countries by immigration enforcement officials working for his administration. That's about two in every five undocumented migrants among the 11.4 million estimated to be living illegally in the country.

How is he doing this?

Obama is shielding them from deportation by directing immigration enforcement agents to focus on security at the border with Mexico (where most immigrants enter the US), criminals and immigrants who arrived in the past five years rather than families with undocumented members who have been living, working and even paying taxes in the US for some time.

Which immigrants is he helping out exactly?

Most of the migrants who will benefit - about four million - are undocumented parents of US-born citizen children or legal permanent residents. They must have been living in the country for at least five years to qualify and must undergo a criminal background check and pay their US taxes up to date. If they are found to have a criminal past, they will be deported. Migrants can start applying next spring.

Obama is also extending a measure that he introduced in 2012 allowing migrants who were brought to the US illegally as children - or the “Dreamers,” as they are better known - to remain in the country. Previously, these individuals were eligible for deferred action on deportation if they were born after 1981 and arrived in the US before 2007. Obama has changed this date to 2010 and eliminated the age cap. This will be of benefit to about 270,000 more migrants.

Is anyone else benefiting from his orders?

In a nod to the business community, Obama is directing the Department of Homeland Security, the government agency which enforces immigration policy, to change its rules so as to grant overseas science and technology graduates the ability to remain working in the US permanently after they leave American universities.

Another measure on the legal immigration front will be a new programme to encourage entrepreneurs to move to the US once they can demonstrate that they have investors and can create jobs.

What about the undocumented Irish - how will all this benefit them?

It's not clear how many illegal Irish in the US will be affected by President Obama's orders. In fact, nobody really knows the exact number of undocumented Irish living in the US. The Irish Government estimates the number at about 50,000 and Irish immigration activists expect the president's orders to benefit thousands of those given the large number of Irish who were lobbying for the immigration proposals pushed unsuccessfully by Senators Ted Kennedy and John McCain in 2007.

A large number of illegal Irish have been in the US for well over five years and many have American-born citizen or legal permanent resident children so that will qualify them under Mr Obama’s orders.

Will it solve the long-running problem of people being unable to return home to Ireland for important family occasions such as funerals?

For those qualifying for protection from deportation, it will resolve this issue under certain circumstances. A senior Obama administration official said yesterday that the president’s orders included measures relaxing some of the rules that have stopped many illegal Irish from returning home to visit their families.

These undocumented can apply for an “extreme hardship waiver,” meaning that they won’t face long term bars from re-entering the US and can visit home, for example, to attend family occasions or visit dying relatives and still be able to return to their families in the US.

At present, if someone has lived illegally in the US for less than year, they can be barred from re-entry for three years after leaving the country and for 10 years if they have been illegal for longer than that.

“We expect to see some expansion of who benefits from the waiver of the three and 10 year bar,” said a senior administration official.

Further details are awaited to see how soon or frequently these eligible Irish undocumented will be able to visit home.

So is Obama making the five million eligible migrants US citizens?

No, the president doesn’t have that authority. He is only telling them that he is not going to deport them. The measures are also only temporary; they won’t allow immigrants to stay permanently. In fact, the next president will have the authority to reverse Obama’s measures with executive orders of their own when they take power in January 2017.

You keep mentioning “executive orders” - what are they?

Under his constitutional authority, the president can, as head of the executive branch of US government, issue orders to federal agencies, departments and other federal employees to act in certain ways.

Presidents can use these orders to cover things from hunting with a burning lantern and the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria to foreign policy matters and wartime presidential commands.

Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in the Confederate states of the South, was perhaps the most famous presidential order.

President Obama has issued the fewest executive orders since Grover Cleveland’s presidency in the 1890s, at 193 orders, or 33.5 orders for every year he has been in office, according to The American Presidency Project.

Executive orders are frequently used when a president doesn't have the support of Congress. Obama has been unable to fulfil much of his legislative agenda because of Republican control on Capitol Hill.

So are these immigration orders legal?

Obama says that he has the legal authority to make these orders, noting that every Democratic and Republican president in the last 50 years has taken similar actions. His political opponents in the Republican ranks say that he does not have the authority, that he is exceeding his presidential remit and acting as “Emperor Obama.”

One of his most outspoken critics, Republican senator Ted Cruz of Texas said: "If he acts by executive diktat, President Obama will not be acting as a president, he will be acting as a monarch."

Why is Obama acting on immigration now?

The president has been threatening to issue executive orders on immigration reform for several months. He has blamed Republicans in the House of Representatives (which they control) for failing to take up a major immigration bill that passed the Democrat-controlled Senate almost 18 months ago with the support of 14 Republicans.

He has said that he still wants Congress to take up an immigration bill but until that happens there are actions he can take as president to “help make our immigration system more fair and more just.” He goaded Republicans again last night, calling on them to “pass a bill.”

Does he need Congress to do more and will he get their support?

Yes, he has said repeatedly that that there are limits to his powers to fix a “broken” immigration system so if he is to legalise immigrants permanently or to put them on a path to citizenship, which was proposed under the Senate bill, he needs Congress to back this.

Finding consensus with Republicans will be difficult though particularly after unilateral orders last night.

The numbers also against him: Republicans won back the Senate in this month's midterm elections which will give them majorities in both houses of Congress from January, increasing the bitter political divisions in Washington.

Politically, is there a lot at stake here?

Yes, Latinos, who account for the bulk of the undocumented, are one of the largest and fastest growing groups in the country. They helped elect and re-elect Obama. He won 71 per cent of the Latino vote against Mitt Romney’s 27 per cent in the 2012 presidential election.

Almost all of the politicians considered Democratic contenders in the 2016 elections publicly backed Obama’s actions last night, while nearly all of the Republican seen as potential candidates slated them.