Credit: Alison Yin for EdSource Today

California volition be the principal casher of President Barack Obama'southward historic proclamation on Thursday nighttime of a program granting temporary relief from deportation to unauthorized immigrants – and in nigh cases children will exist the primal to them taking advantage of it.

Although the plan consists of many elements, the provisions regarding temporary legalization have received by far the most attention.

Although he did not use the term, President Obama's program is consistent with the the concept of "family reunification," which has been a cornerstone of U.South. immigration policy for nearly a century. That policy has been grounded in the principle that immigrant families should be kept intact.

An estimated five.two million – 3.1 million in California – will exist eligible to participate in the new programme, according to figures from the Migration Policy Institute. Of these, by far the largest grouping are some 3.seven million unauthorized immigrant parents nationwide, including 1.i million in California, who have children who are either U.S. citizens or take "green cards" allowing them to stay permanently in the Us.

Well-nigh four out of 5 of these parents accept children who are under the age of 18, according to estimates from the Pew Inquiry Heart. Adult immigrants who do not have children, or whose children are undocumented, will not take access to the program.

President Obama is also expanding the Deferred Action for Children Arrivals (DACA) program he established by executive society in 2012. Under the revised program, unauthorized migrants who came to the Us before January 2010, and who were younger than 16 at the time, will be eligible. Under the previous program, simply those who came earlier January 2007 were eligible.

Despite the fact that many of these younger immigrants have received permission to stay in the U.S., the program announced by President Obama on Th does non extend relief to their parents.

What is not known is how many of the potential beneficiaries of the program will actually sign up. At that place is the possibility that the programme could be repealed past a time to come president, or that Congress might take action that could make implementing it difficult. Immigrants who have come "out of the shadows," equally President Obama described it, would so accept publicly declared their identities without legal protection.

The Deferred Action programme is i indicator of what might happen with the new plan. In that case, just over half of the 1.2 million immigrants immediately eligible to participate had washed and so by March of this year, according to a report by the Migration Policy Found. In California, 183,000 out of 371,000 immediately eligible for the DACA program had signed up.

"On the one hand, the sheer volume of applicants is impressive," a written report by the Migration Policy Found states. "On the other, hundreds of thousands of immigrant youth have not yet gained a condition that can change their lives in measurable means, allowing them improved task prospects, the ability to apply for commuter's licenses, and more."

Also not clear is what impact lifting the threat of deportation and granting piece of work permits to parents of hundreds of thousands of schoolhouse age children — at a minimum — on public schools.  Information technology is possible that with the threat of displacement eased, undocumented parents will become more involved in their children's schools, which equally a contempo EdSource written report showed is associated with improved instruction outcomes.

The plan also comes at a time when schools are under pressure to involve parents in their children's schools generally, also every bit in the decision making process for drawing up their annual Local Control and Accountability plans.

Lifting the fear of deportation could make information technology more likely that these parents — including those of English learners who are one of three priority groups targeted past the state'south new school financing law — will take advantage of new opportunities to become involved in decision making in their schools and districts.

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