President Barack Obama yesterday said the US would immediately stop deporting some illegal immigrants brought to the US as children and make them eligible for work permits, in an election-year effort with appeal to Latino voters.
The new policy affects about 800,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US before age 16, have been in the country for at least five years, have no criminal record and are in school or have a high school diploma.
President Obama was twice interrupted mid-sentence by a reporter while making his statement at the White House. “Why do you favour foreigners over American workers?” said the man, who later identified himself as Neil Munro from The Daily Caller website.
Mr Obama stopped reading from his statement and said, “It’s not time for questions, sir.” Munro later interrupted him again, causing Mr Obama to say: “I didn’t ask for an argument. I'm answering your question.” The White House press corps frequently shouts questions after the president reads statements, but it is very rare for a journalist to interrupt him. The Daily Caller was founded by Tucker Carlson, a conservative commentator, and Neil Patel, a former adviser to Dick Cheney. – (Bloomberg, Reuters)