Obama's immigration policy may not help

The new program introduced by Barack Obama allows an immigrant to come out in the open about when they had reached the US, how long they have been staying, source of income and other details. A small fine will be charged and then the immigrant can get a way out of being deported.

In an address to the nation on Thursday night, President Barack Obama outlined executive action to let some 4.4 million parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents remain in the United States temporarily, without the threat of deportation. He said he took the step after Congress failed to pass immigration reform legislation.

As details of the speech filtered through immigrant communities across the United States, many undocumented Hispanics remained skeptical, saying the new temporary benefits offered by the White House might not be worth the risk of coming out of the shadows.

While Mr Obama's so-called "deferred action" for parents of children who are U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents could offer temporary status to as many as 5 million immigrants, the many shortcomings detract from its benefits, experts say.

Immigrants who have lived illegally in the United States for many years can be afraid to sign up for fear of future deportation if their temporary status runs out, as well as large fines and exposure to unpaid medical bills, said Mark Hugo Lopez with the Pew Hispanic Center.

"Who knows who the next president will be and if they might take this protection away," he said.

Immigrants may also lack the proper documentation to prove eligibility, he added, amounting to huge uncertainty over the benefits of signing up.

Only 55 percent of the estimated 1.2 million young people eligible under a 2012 program that offered temporary relief for the children of unauthorized immigrants have applied, according to an August report by the Migration Policy Institute.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) offers a two-year work permit to qualifying young adults ages 15 to 30 who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

Mr Obama's executive action is the most significant move to protect unauthorized immigrants since 1986, when Congress passed legislation allowing almost 3 million people in the country illegally to obtain residency, and ultimately U.S. citizenship.

Miami-born Christy Gaspar, 20, who lives in Homestead in south Florida with her Guatemalan parents, who are legal residents, said she worried about six uncles who are undocumented.

"They are not going to trust anything the president says," Gaspar explained. "He hasn't kept his promises," she added, noting how record number of immigrants have been deported under the Obama administration.

Mary Alfaro, a 37-year-old undocumented Mexican mother of two U.S.-born children who has been living in south Florida since 1995, called Mr Obama's decision a partial solution.

"We need more than an executive order. We need a law that addresses the immigrant population. It's a small victory. But we are on the right track.