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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Presidential Address Tonight on Immigration Reform

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Thursday, November 20, 2014   

CHICAGO – Residents across Illinois and the nation will be watching closely tonight as President Barack Obama unveils his plans to reform immigration on his own, a move that could prevent the deportation of millions.

At La Union del Pueblo Entero in San Juan, Texas, the advocacy group’s communications coordinator, John-Michael Torres, says it's hoped that the president's executive actions will include allowing the undocumented parents of American citizens to stay in the U.S. with their families.

"I think that in general, immigrants are seen as kind of like these shadowy figures that are sneaking into the border, but in reality most have deep ties to the United States,” he states. “And we want people to be able to get a work permit and a temporary reprieve from deportation."

Torres says he's also hopeful that Obama will extend protections for low-wage workers and farm workers.

"People who do the necessary work that a lot of people that are natives to this country don't want to do, that won't do, but they're doing it,” he says. “They're working hard. They're putting food on our tables and they should receive some sort of protections."

The coming executive actions have been heavily criticized by leading Republicans, who say potential congressional action will be sidetracked by this unilateral action.

But Torres says the struggles over immigration reform have been going on for years and it's time.

"We've been trying to work on getting something passed, but it's been obstacle after obstacle and every day that passes, more and more of our families are separated because of deportation and really that suffering needs to stop," he says.

According to a recent report from the Pew Research Center, the estimated population of undocumented immigrants in Illinois in 2012 was 475,000.






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