Analyst's note:   Obama administration announces it will launch a case-by-case review of illegals slated for deportation, a move reminiscent of the controversial DREAM Act, which failed to pass in Congress.

"The Obama Administration announced on Thursday that it will individually review the 300,000 cases of illegal aliens currently holding deportation orders in an effort to appease his pro-amnesty critics and last year's record number of deportations.

The Administration deported 400,000 illegal aliens last year -- less than half had been convicted for other crimes. Pres. Obama is pledging to halt deportations of non-criminal illegal aliens. Illegal aliens that are considered low-priority deportations will no longer be the focus, including young people who were brought to the U.S. as children, military veterans and spouses of military personnel.

"They will be applying common sense guidelines to make these decisions, like a person's ties and contributions to the community, their family relationships and military service record," White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Cecilia Muñoz wrote on the White House blog. "In the end, this means more immigration enforcement pressure where it counts the most, and less where it doesn't – that's the smartest way to follow the law while we stay focused on working with the Congress to fix it."