ANTIQUES SHOPS

In a move that seemed to be aimed at Hispanics whose enthusiasm for voting in the November 6 election could be crucial to Obama's re-election chances, the president acted to potentially protect 800,000 people from deportation proceedings for at least two years.

Obama, who previously was reluctant to impose such an order even as Republicans in Congress blocked immigration reform bills he supported, called his action "the right thing to do."

His announcement was on the 30th anniversary of a Supreme Court decision that said children of illegal-immigrant parents were entitled to public education in the United States.

It allowed Obama, whose administration has faced criticism from some Hispanic groups for deporting about 400,000 illegal immigrants a year, to draw a sharp contrast between himself and Republican Mitt Romney, his opponent in the election. Romney, in trying to appeal to his party's most conservative voters, has taken a harsh stance against illegal immigration.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Obama emphasized that his stop-gap policy did not grant amnesty or citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants. He said that such people "are Americans in their hearts and minds; in every single way but one - on paper."

Both Democrats who praised Obama's move and Republicans who attacked it agreed that Congress ultimately should decide the permanent fate of immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally by their parents.

Most Republicans continue to clamor for more law enforcement before considering any loosening of immigration rules for the estimated 12 million people who are in the country illegally. Obama emphasized various steps he has taken to secure the southwestern U.S. border, the entry point for most of the immigrants living illegally in the United States.

POWER OF THE PRESIDENCY

Obama's order was the second time in two months that he has reached out to a key Democratic voting constituency. Last month, he said for the first time that he supports legalizing gay marriages, a move that while largely symbolic, won him praise and campaign donations from the gay and lesbian community.

Friday's appeal to Hispanics came at a time when Obama's popularity has dipped amid new worries of a weakening economy and a deepening European financial crisis that further threatens American jobs.

Meanwhile, Republicans in the deeply fractured U.S. Congress have blocked most of Obama's domestic initiatives, some of which he said would have created millions of jobs.

Obama's order came a week before he is scheduled to address a meeting of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials in Florida. Romney also is set to address the group next week.

The meeting is likely to feature Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican who has pushed for legislation that would help children of illegal immigrants.

Obama's order also came as the U.S. Supreme Court is considering a challenge to Arizona's strict immigration laws that target people living and working in the state illegally. A ruling could come as early as next week.

A 'POWER GRAB'

Romney, campaigning in New Hampshire, said Obama's move made it more difficult to reach a long-term solution for young illegal immigrants "who come here through no fault of their own." He said he would like to see legislation to help such people but did not offer a plan of his own.

Early this year, during the Republican presidential primaries, Romney said he favored "self-deportation" in which illegal immigrants realize they would be better off returning to their native countries after employment restrictions left them unable to find work in the United States.

Other Republicans were more harsh in criticizing Obama.

"Today's announcement by President Obama is a politically motivated power grab that does nothing to further the debate but instead adds additional confusion and uncertainty to our broken immigration system," said Obama's 2008 Republican challenger for the White House, Senator John McCain of Arizona.

Another Republican, House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, called Obama's order a "breach of faith" that Smith said will have "horrible consequences" for unemployed Americans who are looking for jobs only to find that illegal immigrants will work for less money.

Some Republicans suggested that Obama's move could face legal challenges but several law professors said Friday that it is unlikely that Obama's order could be challenged successfully in court. Presidents have broad executive power for such temporary orders and prosecutorial discretion.

George Washington University law professor Orin Kerr said criminal enforcement is the domain of the executive branch and deportation decisions would fall under that authority.

University of Houston law professor Michael A. Olivas said Friday's directive is well within a president's usual authority.

Political analysts cast Obama's move as a savvy strategy for what could be a very close race for the White House.

"The Obama administration knows it's in a very tight race and if the margins that it enjoyed among unmarried women, gays, Hispanics and blacks don't hold, then he might end up on the wrong end of this thing," said Cal Jillson, a politics professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "So he's going around and touching all these bases."

OBAMA'S REVERSAL

Under Obama's plan, those who qualify would be allowed to live and work in the United States for two years and could be eligible for extensions, the Obama administration said.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who made the initial announcement of Obama's order on Friday, said that illegal immigrants up to 30 years old who came to the United States as children and do not pose a risk to national security would be eligible to stay in the country and allowed to apply for work permits.

To avoid deportation under Obama's plan, a person must have come to the United States under the age of 16 and have resided in the country for at least five years.

They must be in school or have graduated from high school or be honorably discharged from the U.S. military. They also must not have been convicted of any felony or significant misdemeanor offenses.

Obama has long supported measures to allow the children of illegal immigrants to study and work in the United States, but efforts to pass such measures in Congress have failed amid objections by Republicans.

The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act passed the House in 2010, when Democrats controlled that chamber. But it fell a few votes short in the Senate, amid strong Republican opposition.

Friday's announcement was a victory for Hispanic groups that have long called on Obama to use his executive powers and it marked somewhat of a reversal by the administration. Last July, in a speech to the National Council of La Raza, Obama said he was reluctant to bypass Congress.

There are up to 2 million illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children and who remain in the country, according to immigration group estimates. U.S. officials said the new measures would affect roughly 800,000 people.

Most of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States are Hispanics. There are now 51 million Hispanics living in the United States out of a total population of 309 million.

(Additional reporting by Donna Smith, Samson Reiny, Alister Bull, Andy Sullivan, Laura MacInnis and Joan Biskupic; Editing by David Lindsey and Bill Trott)

The harsh summer job market for teens is compounded by this: The country has recovered only half the jobs lost from December 2007 through June 2009, the worst recession in 70 years.

Teens - often the last hired and first fired - suffered the toughest summers on the job front since World War II in 2010 and 2011. This summer, the outlook is chilly - again.

In April, the U.S. unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-olds was 24.9 percent - and much higher in some major metropolitan areas.

"What I would ask people to think about is: Who gave you your first work experience? Almost every one of us had a break to get their first job, and that work experience is essential to get your second and third job," said Larry Frank, Los Angeles deputy mayor of neighborhood and community services.

Los Angeles - with the help of federal stimulus money - created around 15,000 summer jobs for teenagers in 2009 and 2010. But as the federal program ended, that was slashed to about 6,000 in 2011. It will not rise this year.

It's a similar story in other major cities.

New York City had 52,000 summer jobs for teens in 2009. Now the program is half that size. It has five applicants for every job.

Boston hopes to get funds and private-sector placements to raise this summer's teen job program to 10,000 slots, up from 8,800 in 2011, said Conny Doty, director of the Mayor's Office of Jobs and Community Services.

The Obama administration's stimulus funding helped support more than 370,000 summer youth jobs in 2009 and 2010.

But last autumn, a divided Congress failed to enact another jobs measure, which included $1.5 billion for summer and year-round jobs for low-income teenagers and young adults.

Federal officials are trying to persuade the private sector to fill some of the void to take the edge off the soaring national unemployment rate for teenagers.

LONG LINES AND A JOB LOTTERY

Brandon Hutchinson, 17, in line with about 200 other teens waiting to register for New York City's summer job program, said he has made it through the job lottery two out of the three times he applied. He recalled 2010, when he was not chosen, as "a dead summer," adding that although he had his friends, "I'd rather be getting paid."

Hutchinson hopes for a repeat of last summer when he worked in the kitchen of Henry Street Settlement, a nonprofit agency that offers social services, arts and healthcare programs.

In the lottery, though, not all who are called are chosen. To land a summer job, each teen must bring certain documents showing proof of identity and family income.

Darian Beauchamp, 16, in line with the other lottery winners, said he could not land a job this spring because employers wanted people who were at least 18: "My age and not having a lot of experience limited what I can do."

Nikya Floyd, a 32-year-old mother in line with her teen daughter, another lottery winner, got her first jobs through the same kind of program.

"Getting a paycheck every two weeks was a big motivator for me," said Floyd, who joined the Navy and became a machinist. Her summer jobs - mainly caring for children - did not lead to a career, but they "got me working and my mind set for a job."

KEEPING TEENS OUT OF TROUBLE

Some economists say the lack of job opportunities could push some urban teens to permanently disconnect from the workforce.

"If you're a lower-income person, the income might be pretty valuable. If it does keep you out of trouble, that's valuable because once young people are incarcerated, they are scarred for life," said Harry Holzer, a professor at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute.

Without federal stimulus dollars, other major U.S. cities also cut their summer job programs in the last two years. Philadelphia plans to place at least 5,600 youths this summer versus 11,180 in 2010.

But Chicago is increasing its summer jobs program to 17,000 spots, up 3,000 from 2011. Some 500 teenagers who live in high-crime areas will take part in special mentoring programs. The University of Chicago Crime Lab will study whether the program cuts "violence involvement" and improves "school outcomes."

The poorest Americans bear the brunt of the teen job crisis. Only one of every five teenagers whose family had income below $20,000 a year was hired last summer, a report by Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market Studies found.

In contrast, the teen employment rate was 41 percent for those with family incomes of $100,000 to $150,000 a year.

WORST AND BEST CITIES FOR TEENS

Washington, D.C.'s teenage unemployment rate was 51.7 percent, an analysis by research fellow Michael Saltsman of the Employment Policies Institute showed.

Gerren Price, Washington's associate director of youth programs, tied its teenage unemployment crisis to local high schools' high drop-out rate and competition from area college students.

Nearly 38 out of every 100 young college graduates with bachelor of arts degrees are working as cashiers, sales clerks, bartenders, waiters, waitresses and in office jobs, Northeastern University's report found.

Unlike Washington, the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy metropolitan area has a fairly low teen unemployment rate - 14.8 percent - and one of the nation's strongest summer job programs.

"You can walk through any of those hospitals and meet people in their 30s who say they got there because they had a summer job there," Doty said.

(Reporting by Joan Gralla; Editing by Jan Paschal)