Executive Action: Good news for 5 million

Audience members react to President Obama's speech
on his use of executive action.

WELL, President Obama did what he said he would do and used his power of executive action to provide necessary changes to America's policies towards undocumented immigrants.

And also, not surprisingly, the Republicans had a heart attack of a reaction: from impeachment threats to treason charges.

The president had to use executive action in order to  bypass the House of Representatives' inaction on  on a tough immigration bill passed by the Senate but Speaker Boehner refused to allow it to come to a vote in the GOP-controlled House even though it doubled the number of Border Patrol agents, increased their budget, extend the border fence  by 700 miles - all the things Republicans wanted.

Jose Antonio Vargas

One of the approximately 5 million beneficiaries of Obama's action last week is Jose Antonio Vargas, one of the most outspoken undocumented Americans. 

The Filipino American became an outspoken advocate of immigration reform when in 2011,  he revealed his undocumented status in an article in The New York Times Magazine.

Obama's 2012 deferred action plan for Dreamers didn't include the 33-year- old Vargas because he missed the age limitations by a few months. On Thursday, Obama announced he was removing the age limit. 

"It's one of those things where I've been thinking about it all day, and it hasn't really sunk in," he told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "I have been here since I was 12 -- 21 years. For somebody to just say, OK, now it is OK. You can get a work permit. You can get a driver's license. You can travel outside the country. ... It's a great night."

He said he'll finally be able to leave the U.S. to visit his mother in the Philippines, whom he hasn't seen for 21 years.

Although often perceived as a Latino issue, immigration reform will impact the Asian-American community. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that 1.3 million Asians are undocumented and over 60 percent of the Asian American community first-generation immigrants.

Unfortunately, the television networks didn't think Obama's speech was important enough to interrupt their regular prime-time programming so most of us missed it. (Heaven forbid we miss some of our favorite TV shows.) If you missed it, here it is.

Despite what Fox News insists on saying - and repeating over and over - Obama's plan is NOT amnesty. It also doesn't do anything for the remaining 6 million undocumented.

President Obama was late in delivering his campaign promise, but he's now made the leap despite the huge political risks. Now, get set for the fireworks as opponents prepare an all-out attack on anything -- I mean anything -- supported by the President. 

But wait, aren't they doing that already?

###