US President Barack Obama used a legal and moral argument Thursday to try to convince the American public that his decision to unilaterally protect millions of illegal immigrants from deportation is consistent with the law and necessary to begin repairing a dysfunctional immigration system. In an evening address from the White House, Obama outlined a plan to provide administrative relief and work permits to as many as 3.7 million undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents, as well as an additional 300,000 young immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children. In doing so, Obama challenged the opponents of his executive action to pass legislation permanently reforming the immigration system and to defend a current deportation policy that in his words "rips families apart." He cited Scripture and his Republican predecessor to call for a more compassionate view of the immigrant experience in the United States, emphasizing the values of hard work, education and success for their children that he said are held by most of those who enter the country illegally.
