Immigration Reform 2014: White House Plan to Expand Immigrant Rights; Critics Call for Impeachment of President Obama

As a number of critics call for President Obama's impeachment over his handling of the border crisis, the White House is grappling with plans to expand immigrant rights, which would be put into place by executive action in the upcoming weeks.

According to reports, officials alluded to the impending move by the Obama administration, which would protect a large number of undocumented immigrants living in the United States from being deported.

According to a White House official, who spoke with LA Times on the condition of anonymity, "Roughly 5 million of the estimated 11 million people who entered the country without legal authorization or overstayed their visas could be protected under a leading option the White House is considering."

Whispers of this move comes on the heels of President Obama's vow to take executive action in response to the immigration crisis at U.S. borders.

A number of reform bills have been stalled or shut down by the opposing opinions on immigration in Congress in the midst of what is being called a "humanitarian crisis," where tens of thousands of Central American children have made their way across U.S. borders alone in the 2014 fiscal year. 

That number is expected to top 90,000 this year alone, and is expected to grow even larger in 2015. Those record-breaking numbers at the border are causing overcrowding at south Texas holding facilities, and efforts to transport detainees to other facilities has been met with opposition from other cities and states. 

White House senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer told reporters on Friday that the "move will come by the end of the summer." 

The move is bound to further antagonize the heated debate over immigration reform. Republican critics have been vocal about what they call the President's mishandling of the crisis.

One of the most outspoken opponents, House Speaker John Boehner, is planning to sue President Obama for allegedly exceeding his executive authority. 

When the decision is announced, it will "increase the angry reactions from Republicans," Pfeiffer said.

According to Pfeiffer, he "would not discount the possibility" that Republicans would seek to impeach Obama over his next immigration moves. He also stated that Boehner's impending lawsuit will open the door for that impeachment to take place. 

According to reports, the White House is "entertaining a range of possibilities that would speed up deportations in some cases but forestall them in many others."

There are a number of ways that President Obama could potentially use his executive powers to handle the immigration crisis. While the President could seek to expedite deportations, he seems more likely to prevent further deportations of undocumented immigrants who are already established in the U.S., working and raising families as Americans.

According to reports, more than 520,000 people have received permits to stay and work in the U.S. under the administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), a 2012 program meant to address the issue of young adults who had been reaised as Americans after entering the U.S. with their families as children.

A number of conservative lawmakers have called for DACA to end; any effort to expand the program would only fuel the division between parties.

The campaign arm of the House Democratic leadership began a fundraising drive featuring Pfeiffer's impeachment forecast within hours of his making it.

"It is telling, and sad, that a senior White House official is focused on political games, rather than helping these kids and securing the border," said Boehner's spokesman, Michael Steel.

President Obama has been meeting with officials from Central American countries this week in an effort to help stem the flow of unaccompanied children into the U.S. from countries like Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

The President warned the officials that children who don't have "proper claims" to admission to the U.S. will have to go back home.

"The American people and my administration have great compassion for these children," Obama told reporters, with the other presidents at his side. "But I also emphasized to my friends that we have to deter a continuing influx of children putting themselves at risk."