Obama to announce executive actions on immigration: White House

U.S. President Barack Obama is to announce executive actions on immigration at 8 p.m. (0100 GMT) Thursday, which are expected to ensure five million illegal immigrants in the country to gain protection from deportation.

According to excerpts released by the White House before Obama's speech, the president defends his immigration plan as lawful and urges his congressional opponents to pass a bill on it.

Obama will say his executive actions on immigration "are not only lawful, they're the kinds of actions taken by every single Republican President and every Democratic President for the past half century."

"And to those Members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigrations system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer: Pass a bill," the President will say. Enditem