When President Obama was pushing comprehensive immigration reform last year, the concept had the support of some policy thinkers on the right. But that won’t be the case should he follow through on his plans for executive action.

As early as this week, Obama is expected to announce an executive order that will defer the deportations of certain people in the country illegally if, for instance, their children were born in the United States and the family has resided here for a certain number of years. According to Pew Research Center, between 1 million and 4.5 million currently illegal residents could be affected by such an order depending on the required duration of residence in the United States.