Legal Backing for a Potential President Obama Executive Action on Immigration

As the legislative session comes to a close with no immigration bill being passed out of Congress, President Obama has begun to turn his attention to what he can personally do to alleviate the pain suffered by the millions of illegal immigrants in the United States.  This passages are certainly not all of the options at the president's disposal, but even these alone would significantly improve the lives of millions.  Below are the some passages from the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act that could give President Obama legal authority to protect more unauthorized immigrants:

 
Sec 304


"SEC. 240A. (a) CANCELLATION OF REMOVAL FOR CERTAIN PERMANENT RESIDENTS.-The Attorney General may cancel removal in the case of an alien who is inadmissible or deportable from the United States if the alien- 
 
"(1) has been an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence for not less than 5 years, 
 
"(2) has resided in the United States continuously for 7 years after having been admitted in any status, and 
 
"(3) has not been convicted of any aggravated felony. 
 
 
Sec 304


SEC. 240A. (b)"(1) IN GENERAL.-The Attorney General may cancel removal in the case of an alien who is inadmissible or deportable from the United States if the alien- 
 
"(A) has been physically present in the United States for a continuous period of not less than 10 years immediately preceding the date of such application; 
 
(B) has been a person of good moral character during such period; 
 
"(C) has not been convicted of an offense under section 212(a)(2), 237(a)(2), or 237(a)(3); and 
 
"(D) establishes that removal would result in exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to the alien's spouse, parent, or child, who is a citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence. 
 
SEC.301


(b)(B)(v) WAIVER.-The Attorney General has sole discretion to waive clause (i) in the case of an immigrant who is the spouse or son or daughter of a United States citizen or of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence, if it is established to the satisfaction of the Attorney General that the refusal of admission to such immigrant alien would result in extreme hardship to the citizen or lawfully resident spouse or parent of such alien. No court shall have jurisdiction to review a decision or action by the Attorney General regarding a waiver under this clause. 
 
The clause discussed above:
 
SEC.301 


(b)(B)(i) IN GENERAL.-Any alien (other than an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence) who- 
 
"(I) was unlawfully present in the United States for a period of more than 180 days but less than 1 year, voluntarily departed the United States (whether or not pursuant to section 244(e)) prior to the commencement of proceedings under section 235(b)(1) or section 240, and again seeks admission within 3 years of the date of such alien's departure or removal, or 
 
"(II) has been unlawfully present in the United States for one year or more, and who again seeks admission within 10 years of the date of such alien's departure or removal from the United States,is inadmissible.