OBAMAgration: The Pen or Not the Pen, That is the Question

President Barack Obama is considering delaying his expected changes to immigration policy until after the midterm elections, amid pressure from Democrats in tough Senate races, people familiar with White House deliberations said Friday.

Mr. Obama has been expected to act soon to ease deportations of illegal immigrants, including potentially giving temporary work permits to millions of people in the U.S. illegally. In June, after House Republicans declined to pass an immigration overhaul, he said he would act on his own by summer's end to make changes to the immigration system.

Republicans say Mr. Obama would exceed his legal authority by acting without congressional approval, and several Democrats running in conservative states have urged him in recent weeks not to act on his own. Now, White House officials are debating whether to put off some or all of his new policy until after the November election, in which control of the Senate is at stake, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The internal debate comes as the White House has received good news on what has been a major immigration problem: Government figures show the summer surge in unaccompanied children illegally crossing the Southwest border has significantly slowed.

During the first 25 days of August, an average of 104 unaccompanied minors have been apprehended each day trying to illegally cross the Southwest border. That is less than a third the rate recorded in May and June, when about 350 children were being caught daily, according to new data from the Department of Homeland Security.

The daily rate of unaccompanied-minor apprehensions is now lower than it has been in any month since early 2013, well before the surge in child migrants began. Some 2,604 unaccompanied minors were apprehended in the first 25 days of August, far less than the more than 10,000 in May and June. The falloff reflects fewer attempted crossings.

As a result, the Department of Health and Human Services is no longer looking for places to open temporary shelters, a scramble that had set off controversies in communities across the country. In addition, the agency is no longer housing children at three military bases that had been set up for temporary use.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

If you like what you see, please "Like" us on Facebook either here or here. Please follow us on Twitter here.