President Obama will use an 8 p.m. ET Thursday address to announce his own federal plan on immigration, after declaring that he will sidestep Congress and use executive action. Obama’s measure could spare from deportation as many as 5 million people who are in the U.S. illegally—and set up one of the most pitched partisan confrontations of his presidency. Obama said Washington has allowed America’s immigration problem “to fester for too long.” The president is expected to sign the executive actions during a rally in Las Vegas on Friday.
