Today President Obama announced that U.S. Immigration would halt deportation of young illegal immigrant students (under 30 years old) who were brought to the US before age 16.  Instead, they can remain in the United States and apply for a work permit.  You can read the about the announcement here.

This is the first step toward the Dream Act, immigration reform legislation which is currently pending that would give relief to the many illegal immigrant students who were brought to this country by their parents at a young age but have no way to gain legal status.

Both these immigration reforms could potentially help thousands of college age students across the county who want nothing more than to get an education and remain in the United States.

However, in order to qualify for either Obama’s new immigration policy or the future Dream Act, the college student must not have ANY criminal record.  A criminal record is a complete bar to any immigration relief.  Therefore, any non-US citizen college student should take any arrest for even the most minor violation should be taken very seriously as it could be ruin his chances at remaining in the United States.