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Immigration must be a frustrating subject for President Obama. Hes been battling Republicans those in Congress, and those trying to take his job in 2012 for years.

But now, one senses a sort of serenity about immigration for Obama.

He never has to run for election again. And the newly-powerful GOP on Capitol Hill has yet to sort itself out on a clear immigration policy and message not least because it has at least three US Senators with strong presidential ambitions (Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Rand Paul).

Remember how Republican presidential hopefuls two years ago got twisted up trying to out-tough-guy each other on illegal immigrants? Mitt Romneys self-deportation was classic. When Rick Perry tried to explain state tuition breaks for young illegal immigrants in Texas, the others pounced.

As Newt Gingrich said at the time, Its a very complicated situation.

Today, of course, its only gotten more complicated. Meanwhile, Republican Party leaders know they need to do a lot better attracting Latino voters, the great majority of whom (71-27 percent) went for Obama over Romney two years ago.

Soon, Obama is expected to issue an executive order removing the threat of deportation for upward of 5 million immigrants in the US illegally mainly the parents of children born in this country and therefore US citizens.

Since the US Department of Homeland Security has the resources to deport only a few hundred thousand illegal immigrants a year (of the estimated 11 million in the country today), the order in essence would move those 5 million to the bottom of the list of those eligible for deportation.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and some other Democrats say Obamas promised executive action on immigration should wait until Congress passes a funding bill, which would avert another government shutdown.

But immigration reform advocates argue otherwise, and the recent midterm election may have pushed Obama to move sooner rather than later.

Read more from the original source:
Nothing to lose on immigration, Obama pushes ahead on his own (+video)