Laws? We don't need no steenkin' laws.

Not when there's political pandering to be done:

(CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - The Obama administration said Thursday it will allow many illegal immigrants facing deportation the chance to stay in this country and apply for a work permit, while focusing on removing from the U.S. convicted criminals and those who might be a national security or public safety threat.

That will mean a case-by-case review of approximately 300,000 illegal immigrants facing possible deportation in federal immigration courts, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in announcing the policy change.
...
According to White House officials, the policy could also benefit illegal immigrants who have family members in the States -- among them partners of gay, lesbian and bisexual people, The New York Times reported. Richard Socarides, an attorney and former adviser on gay issues to President Clinton, told the Times: "The new policy will end, at least for now, the deportations of gay people legally married to their same-sex American citizen partners, and it may extend to other people in same-sex partnerships."


Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said the Obama administration was implementing reforms "against the will of Congress and the majority of American people we represent."

"It is just the latest attempt by this president to bypass the intended legislative process when he does not get his way," McCaul said in a statement. "The fact that we have a backlog and prioritize deportations is nothing new. This policy goes a step further granting illegal immigrants a fast-track to gaining a work permit where they will now unfairly compete with more than 9 percent of Americans who are still looking for jobs."

Other Republicans have previously criticized the DREAM Act and other immigration legislation that would provide a path to legal status as amnesty. Following Morton's June memo, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, introduced a bill to block the administration's use of prosecutorial discretion and called the use of that discretion "backdoor amnesty."

ADDED:

“I was pleasantly surprised by the boldness and breadth of Administration’s move,” Frank Sharry, Executive Director of the pro-immigration reform group America’s Voice, told me. The plan includes reviewing the deportation proceedings of 300,000 people already in the system, and allowing those who don’t have criminal records to stay.

Like Christmas in August, eh?
Getting more than you hoped for, even.
Remember tho Santa: the bills do come due in January for all these unpaid for "gifts"...

Although 22 Democratic Senators sent a letter to the administration requesting a formal process of “deferred action” for potential DREAM-eligible undocumented immigrants, the administration demurred, with President Obama telling immigration advocates privately and publicly that change needed to come through Congress. In his speech to the National Council of La Raza in July, the president said: “I need a dance partner here -- and the floor is empty.”

What changed?

Obama’s poll numbers among Latino voters began to slip. Both on the local and national level, immigration reform advocates upped the pressure, even protesting at the Obama administration’s headquarters in Chicago. While the debate over the administration’s aggressive enforcement policy largely occurred under the radar in the mainstream media, Obama was getting pilloried in the Spanish-language press for breaking his promises.