• Republicans reacts with fury
Millions of immigrants living illegally in the US will be allowed to apply for work permits under a major shake-up unveiled by President Barack Obama.
They include immigrants who have been in the US for five years and have children staying legally in the US.
About four million people are expected to benefit from a reform package forced through using executive orders, which allow Mr Obama to bypass Congress.
Republicans have accused the president of an “illegal power-grab”.
There are estimated to be 11 million illegal immigrants in the US.
Under Mr Obama’s plan, undocumented parents of children who are US citizens or legal residents will be able to apply for work permits lasting three years.
Only parents who have lived in the US for five years will qualify.
Some 3.7 million people are thought to be eligible for this scheme,
Another part of the package will extend a programme that gives temporary legal status to people who arrived in the US as children.
Currently only those under the age of 30 who arrived before 2007 can apply for the programme, which was launched in 2012 and already covers roughly 1.2 million people.
Mr Obama has abolished the age limit and extended the cut-off point to 2010, potentially extending the programme to a further 300,000 people.
He said in a televised address that his measures would allow illegal immigrants to “come out of the shadows and get right with the law”.
He insisted that his proposals, which are the biggest immigration reforms since the mid-1980s, did not amount to an amnesty.
“What I’m describing is accountability – a common-sense, middle ground approach,” he said.
Republicans reacted with fury, with Arizona Republican Senator John McCain calling it an “illegal power-grab” that “fails to address the root causes of the dysfunction in our immigration system”.
And Texas Governor Rick Perry argued the move would “lead to more illegal immigration, not less”.
An Obama aide rebuffed the criticism that Mr Obama had overstepped his authority, saying the president had taken advice from the secretary of homeland security and the attorney general about the action.
“It’s entirely consistent with the way previous presidents have exercised their executive authority,” the aide said.
