Obama to offer immigration relief to about 4.7 million: source

Reuters
U.S. President Barack Obama pauses during a ceremony honoring the National Medal of Technology and Innovation awardees at the White House in Washington November 20, 2014. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is slated to announce on Thursday that he will offer relief from the threat of deportation to about 4.4 million undocumented people who are parents of U.S. citizens and green card holders, according to a source briefed by the administration. Obama also will announce an expansion of a program that allows children illegally brought to the United States by their parents to stay in the country - a move that could offer relief to an additional 270,000 people, the source said. For the business community, Obama will expand a program that gives temporary visas to foreign students who graduate from specialty and high tech programs at U.S. colleges, and expand a program for visas for people with "exceptional ability," the source said. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton)