WASHINGTON, November 22 (Sputnik) – An estimated fifty percent of eligible undocumented immigrants might fail to take advantage of US President Barack Obama's immigration reform because they distrust the country's immigration authorities, an expert in immigration law has told Sputnik.
"Probably only about half of those [undocumented immigrants] eligible will apply. Many people will be afraid and don't trust ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency]," Professor of Immigration Law at the University of San Francisco Bill Ong Hing said Friday.
Hing also mentioned that immigrants are likely to experience difficulties in finding all the necessary documentation to prove that they have lived in the United States for five years, which is required by Obama's executive order in order for the undocumented immigrants not to get deported.
Hing added that it is unlikely that Congress will pass a comprehensive immigration bill in the next two years because the Republicans are too stubborn.
On Friday, Obama urged members of the House of Representatives to bring a bipartisan Senate bill on immigration, passed over a year ago, to a yes or no vote. Obama used the Congressmen's failure to bring the bill to the House floor to justify his executive action on immigration.
One part of the executive action plan that the US president announced Thursday, is to allow up to five million illegal immigrants in the United States to register and avoid deportation. The measure would give an opportunity to illegal immigrants who have lived in the US more than five years and parents of children who are US citizens or legal residents to apply to stay in the US temporarily. Applicants would have to pass a background check and pay taxes.
Republicans have expressed outrage over Obama acting unilaterally on immigration reform, proposing to withhold funds for Obama's executive action, or only authorizing short-term funding to the agencies responsible for carrying out Obama's policy.
