President Barack Obama recently gave a speech from the White House on immigration Nov. 20. The speech included a brief overview on how the president has been handling illegal immigration, and how he plans to continue handling it.

Obama began his speech by referring to the immigration system as “broken.”

The president explained how he has secured American borders.

Obama said during the speech, “Today we have more agents and technology deployed to secure our southern border than at any time in our history.”

Congress has been working with the president for the last year and a half on passing a “bipartisan bill.”

This bill will nearly double the amount of border patrol on the southern coast of America, while still giving undocumented immigrants the opportunity to become U.S. citizens by requiring them to pay fines and taxes.

While Congress is revising the law and repeatedly retrying to pass it, the president has chosen to take action to help make the immigration system more just and fair.

During his immigration speech, Obama announced the actions he will take.

“First,” Obama said, “we’ll build on our progress at the border with additional resources for our law enforcement personnel so that they can stem the flow of illegal crossings and speed the return of those who do cross over.”

Second, he plans to make it faster for “high-skilled immigrants, graduates, and entrepreneurs” to become documented so they may stay in America and help contribute to the economy.

Lastly, Obama plans on taking small steps to responsibly deal with undocumented immigrants already living in the United States.

The president stated that tracking down and rounding up the thousands of illegal immigrants is not sane. He has another plan to enforce his third point to improving the immigration system.

“We’re going to offer the following deal,” Obama said. “If you’ve been in America more than five years, if you have children who are American citizens or illegal residents, if you register, pass a criminal background check, and you’re willing to pay your fair share of taxes, you’ll be able to apply to stay in this country temporarily without fear of deportation. You can come out of the shadows and get right with the law.”

The president explained that the deal does not grant permanent citizenship.

He claims that his plan and the deal will no longer be in affect when the “bipartisan bill” is signed into law.

Some students say Obama will not carry out this plan.

Sophomore Brandon Hammond said that it’s “just a cover-up.”

Hammond said, “They want us to get used to seeing foreigners here so they stop thinking about them coming in.”

Others do not feel this way about the plan Obama has created.

Sophomore Michael Parker feels that the actions Obama is taking will help the situation.

Parker said, “It would give them more opportunities to become a U.S. citizen.”

Mr. Andy Nester, government teacher, makes a point on not sharing his political opinions with students.

But Nester said that the president used the speech as an opportunity to defend his decision on handling the five million illegal immigrants without approval from Congress.