[1] During his 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, whereby such immigrants, if they were in good standing, could pay a fine in return for gaining the opportunity to become citizens.
[2] In 2013, Obama called on Congress to include a path to citizenship in any immigration reform bill it passed.
[3] The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, passed by the United States Senate on June 27, 2013, would create a 13-year path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants, a path that would require them to pass several security checks before they can get a green card.
[4] In 2018, president Donald Trump proposed a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million undocumented immigrants who had arrived as children in exchange for $25 billion in funds to build a border wall.
[7][8] Multiple polls conducted during Obama's presidency have found that a large majority of Americans support a path to citizenship, but with stronger support among Democrats than among Republicans.