Obama to press ahead on immigration, amid Republican anger.

Mr Obama said he had no choice but to act, accusing the Republicans of blocking a bill in Congress, and vowed to make permanent reform a reality.
The current move means that more than four million illegal immigrants will be allowed to apply for work permits. Republicans say it will encourage more people to arrive unlawfully. Republicans have been weighing their response to Mr Obama's executive action, but the dilemma they face is how to oppose his immigration reforms without alienating Hispanic voters - whose support they will need in the next election, the BBC's David Willis in Washington reports.A bill was passed in the Senate last year, but the Republicans have been refusing to bring it to a vote in the House of Representatives. The party now has a majority in both chambers following the mid-term elections this month. Earlier on Friday, Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner said Mr Obama's action had sabotaged any chance of enacting cross-party reforms and damaged the presidency itself.
He said the president had acted unilaterally "like a king or emperor" and not through a democratic process. And he added: "The action by the president (Thursday) will only encourage more people to come here illegally. [It] also punishes those who have obeyed the law and waited their turn."The Republican leader said Mr Obama's actions failed to take into account the wishes of the American people, adding it was not the first time the US leader had acted without the consent of Congress. "All year long I have warned the president that by taking unilateral action on matters such as his healthcare law or by threatening action repeatedly on immigration, he was making it impossible to build the trust necessary to work together," Mr Boehner said. The same day, House Republicans filed a federal suit over the legality of parts of Mr Obama's signature healthcare reform law, nicknamed Obamacare. 'Out of shadows'
Under Mr Obama's new immigration plan, undocumented parents of children who are US citizens or permanent legal residents will be able to apply for work permits lasting three years. Visitors to a coffee shop in St Charles, Missouri give their views on the plan There are estimated to be 11 million illegal immigrants in the US. More than four million of them are expected to benefit from the reform package forced through using executive action, which allow Mr Obama to bypass Congress. Only parents who have lived in the US for five years will qualify. Another part of the package will extend a programme that gives temporary legal status to people who arrived in the US as children.