WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has invited an Indian along with five other undocumented students at the White House to hear directly from the young people whose lives have been positively affected by the US immigration policies.
Rishi Singh from South Ozone Park in New York along with five other undocumented students would meet Obama at his Oval Office today, according to a White House official.
The other five students are Steven Arteaga from Houston, Jean Yannick Diouf from Maryland, Blanca Gamez from Las Vegas, Maria Praeli from Coinnecticut, and Bati-amgalan Tsoftsaikhan from Virginia.
These students received Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an immigration policy which allows certain undocumented immigrants who entered the country before their 16th birthday and before June 2007 to receive a renewable two-year work permit and exemption from deportation.
DACA does not confer legal immigration status or provide a path to citizenship. It was started by the Obama administration in June 2013.
The meeting with the students is an opportunity for Obama to hear directly from young immigrants whose lives have been positively affected as a result of receiving DACA, the official said.
The meeting with the students is set to take place as Congressional Republicans are threatening to block funding for critical national security priorities for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) because they disagree with the President's executive actions to make our immigration system smarter, fairer and more effective.
"Instead of working with Democrats and the President to fix our broken immigration system, Congressional Republicans' funding proposal makes things worse by undercutting our efforts to strengthen security at the border and by focusing our enforcement resources on deporting low priority individuals like the young dreamers who are meeting with the President," the official said.
Obama, during the meeting will reiterate that his executive actions are lawful and that Republicans' efforts to reverse his actions will prevent millions of undocumented immigrants from undergoing background checks, make it more difficult for them to pay taxes and would also tear apart millions of immigrant families -- many of whom have been living here for decades, the official said.