President Obama has taken steps to build a smarter, stronger immigration system. You can read about it here.

Here is a summary of the actions:

Executive Actions on Immigration

On November 20, 2014, the President announced a series of executive actions to crack down on illegal immigration at the border, prioritize deporting felons not families, and require certain undocumented immigrants to pass a criminal background check and pay taxes in order to temporarily stay in the U.S. without fear of deportation.
These initiatives include:
• Expanding the population eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to young people who came to this country before turning 16 years old and have been present since January 1, 2010, and extending the period of DACA and work authorization from two years to three years | Details www.uscis.gov/immigrationaction

• Allowing parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who have been present in the country since January 1, 2010, to request deferred action and employment authorization for three years, in a new Deferred Action for Parental Accountability program, provided they pass required background checks | Details www.uscis.gov/immigrationaction

• Expanding the use of provisional waivers of unlawful presence to include the spouses and sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents and the sons and daughters of U.S. citizens | Details www.uscis.gov/immigrationaction

• Modernizing, improving and clarifying immigrant and nonimmigrant programs to grow our economy and create jobs | Details www.uscis.gov/immigrationaction

• Promoting citizenship education and public awareness for lawful permanent residents and providing an option for naturalization applicants to use credit cards to pay the application fee | Details www.uscis.gov/immigrationaction

Important notice: These initiatives have not yet been implemented, and USCIS is not accepting any requests or applications at this time. Beware of anyone who offers to help you submit an application or a request for any of these actions before they are available. You could become a victim of an immigration scam.
UC President Janet Napolitano announced that UC is planning to offer legal services at the six campuses without law schools (Santa Barbara is one) to students who are living in the U.S. illegally or have parents who might be eligible for deportation relief under President Obama’s new immigration order.