Upon landing in Las Vegas Friday afternoon, President Obama officially signed two memoranda to carry out his executive actions granting legal status and work permits to nearly 5 million illegal immigrants.
Mr. Obama signed the documents aboard Air Force One, the White House said. He’s giving a speech at a Las Vegas high school to rally support for his actions.
The first memorandum is “will direct agencies to work in consultation with stakeholders to develop recommendations on how to better improve our visa system so that it more efficiently uses government resources, prevents fraud, and reduces burdens on employers and employees,” the White House said. It requires federal agencies to submit recommendations within 120 days.
The second memorandum creates the White House Task Force on New Americans, “which is intended to better assist new Americans to fully contribute to our economy and their communities,” the White House said.
“It will bring together various government agencies and support state and local efforts to create a strategy to enhance civic, economic, and linguistic integration of new Americans,” the statement said. “This task force will create an integration plans with recommendations on how to improve these efforts within 120 days.”
Mr. Obama said in the documents that “immigration reform is an economic, national security, and moral imperative.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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