Obama has few options to protect young immigrants brought to US as children
*As far as I’m concerned, they buried the lead in the last paragraph: Obama can pardon the DREAMers, but it won’t do much good. VL
By Alicia A. Caldwell, Associated Press (3 minute read) 
WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama is under pressure during his final weeks as president to do something – anything – to secure the future of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children who could face deportation under the Trump administration. His options appear few.
At least 50 congressional Democrats are pushing Obama to take the rare if not unprecedented step of granting pardons to the young immigrants who have stepped forward to identify themselves in exchange for a promise that they’d be safe from deportation. The White House, though, has repeatedly ruled that out.
Several Republican lawmakers are crafting legislative proposals to solidify the place of these immigrants, sometimes called Dreamers, before Donald Trump takes office Jan. 20. Similar efforts have repeatedly failed, even with Democratic majorities in both chambers of Congress, so the likelihood of a legislative Hail Mary isn’t great.
That leaves more than 741,000 immigrants wondering what’s next.
[Photo by The White House/Flickr]
