President Obama spoke tonight on action he plans to take on illegal immigration, including certain people getting to stay in the United States if they meet certain criteria, deporting “felons, not families,” and bolstering border security. He explained, “Mass amnesty would be unfair. Mass deportation would be both impossible and contrary to our character. What I’m describing is accountability––a common-sense, middle ground approach.”

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Obama made it very clear that anyone who has been living in the United States for more than five years or has children who were born in the U.S. or are legal residents, if they pass a background check and pay their fair share of taxes, they can apply for a temporary stay in the United States.

President Obama has repeatedly said he has the legal authority to act on immigration, though critics have pointed to previous statements in which he said he’s “not the emperor of the United States” and it’s Congress that needs to act to fix the immigration system. The president actually addressed critics

on this point by saying that he’s acting just as president before him have acted.

He added, “And to those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer: pass a bill.”

Watch the president’s full address here, via Fox News:

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

Tags: Barack Obama, immigration