This is really major and thanks to reader gg for posting the link.

The headlines are likely to be about the benefits to people out of status. The provisions stated early in the memocould benefit thousands, though I'm not sure it will help the vast majority of people out of status, though many, many would be helped. Mayorkas has "buried the lead" at the end of the memo when he discusses using "deferred enforced departure" to potentially help those who otherwise might qualify for the DREAM Act as well as long time residents (those here since before 1996 are specifically mentioned).

Also, take a look at the legal immigration reforms - work authorization for certain H-4s, expanding the grace periods for non-immigrant visas, dual intent for most major non-immigrant categories, more premium processing categories, automatic extension of employment authorizationd documents when applications to extend are timely filed and issuing two year EADs in more circumstances.

These changes would represent the most significant changes at USCIS (and before that at the INS) in decades.  Hopefully, Mayorkas will get real back up from the White House in order to get these reforms through since it now looks like CIR is not happening.

Incidentally, USCIS has already commented on the memo, which apparently has made it in to the hands of antis on Capitol Hill:

Internal draft memos do not and should not be equated with official action or policy of the Department. We will not comment on notional, pre-decisional memos. As a matter of good government, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will discuss just about every issue that comes within the purview of the immigration system. We continue to maintain that comprehensive bipartisan legislation, coupled with smart, effective enforcement, is the only solution to our nation’s immigration challenges.

Internal memoranda help us do the thinking that leads to important changes; some of them are adopted and others are rejected. Our goal is to implement policies wisely and well to strengthen all aspects of our mission. The choices we have made so far have strengthened both the enforcement and services sides of USCIS — nobody should mistake deliberation and exchange of ideas for final decisions. To be clear, DHS will not grant deferred action or humanitarian parole to the nation’s entire illegal immigrant population.

 

Mayorkas reform memo

Robert Creamer has an interesting analysis of how the ruling in Arizona could affect the Democrats' prospects in November. Many pundits are assuming that Republicans benefit. But Creamer makes a point I've said here many times. The only voters who switch their votes on the immigration issue are Hispanics. Anti-immigrants NEVER vote for the Democrats anyway. They almost always have a host of issues that they care about and in most cases the GOP is the better fit for those voters. So Democrats who try and pander to the Tea Party types are wasting their time.